Creativity pays off for bedding producers
Specialty bedding is a common theme
David Perry -- Furniture Today, August 3, 2006
LAS VEGAS — Bedding producers pulled a little bit of everything out of their bag of marketing tricks here, aiming to help bedding retailers regain the magic on their sales floors this fall.
Reports on traffic ranged from “best Monday ever” to “less than expected” to “strong,” with some producers wondering if the summer heat and lackluster retail sales kept some buyers at home.“For being a summer market, it was very well attended,” said Jim Nation, president of Spring Air. “We had good traffic. Retailers are upbeat, although business has not been consistent around the country.”Therapedic President Gerry Borreggine said his company, showing in the World Market Center for the first time, had its best Vegas market. “That is a dividend of our brand partnership with Standard Furniture,” he said. Therapedic and Standard are Kathy Ireland brand partners.Specialty bedding was a common theme here, with new latex and visco bedding at Sealy, Simmons and Spring Air. Therapedic, Lady Americana and Kaymed had new airbeds, and Comfor-Pedic and Coaster displayed new adjustable beds.Borreggine said Therapedic’s new airbed got good reviews from some heavy hitters. “Everyone who saw it liked it because of its simplicity of function and the six-chamber versatility it offers,” he said.Serta put plenty of sparkle in its fourth-quarter promotion, its 75th Diamond Anniversary Sweepstakes. The company will give away jewelry made with more than 75 karats of diamonds worth an estimated $350,000 in the sweepstakes, which runs from Oct. 1 through Dec. 31. The company had 1,700 crystals in its showroom to call attention to the promotion. Serta’s Barbara Bradford said the market was “a little slower than we expected,” but that retailers were excited about the diamond anniversary promotion. She said dealers reported strong sales of Serta’s new Vera Wang bedding line.Spring Air got good reaction to its new foam Infinity line, which retails from $899 to $1,999, with several comfort and construction options. The seven beds feature latex, visco and latex and visco designs. “There was a lot of interest in the Infinity line, with its higher-fashion, non-traditional covers,” Nation said.
Pillows, too, took their place in the Vegas spotlight.Tempur-Pedic expanded its extensive visco-elastic pillow program with the introduction of the SymphonyPillow. The dual-sided pillow offers something for both back and side sleepers, with the gently arched side of the pillow providing additional head and neck support for back sleepers, while the other side provides a more traditional feel for side sleepers.The pillow uses a new, softer formula for the proprietary Tempur material.Chris Henning, president of Tempur-Pedic Retail, had no complaints about market traffic. “We were slammed,” he said. “Our traffic was non-stop. We saw a lot of our key customers.”Latex International made its first Vegas showing of its RejuveNite branded pillow line, aimed at bedding specialty retailers and furniture stores. And Dormia added a new ventilated latex pillow from Italy to its accessory offerings.Mike Zippelli, Dormia’s CEO, said traffic appeared to be down from last market, but the quality of buyers was good.“This was a great prospecting market,” said Donna Favia, vice president of sales and marketing at Restonic. “Our co-branding with Connie Post, who sent out invitations for retailers to meet her at market, was very helpful to us. We saw people we hadn’t seen before.”Bob Naboicheck, president of Gold Bond, said major retailers again turned out in force, and that his company had its best Monday at this market.Ira Leibowitz of Excel Bedding, who represents China’s Jinling Bedding in the United States, described business at the show as “very good.”Primo International, a bedding producer and importer, added industry veteran Neil Friedman to its team to boost West Coast sales. The company’s Chinese bedding models continued to spark strong retail interest.
Todd Neiting, vice president of sales and marketing for Symbol, making its first Vegas showing, said traffic “was pretty strong.” Symbol lowered prices 10% to 15% across the board in an aggressive move to drive sales, he said.
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Creativity pays off for bedding producers
Aug 13, 2006 -
Bedding pulls out the stops
Aug 13, 2006
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