Specialists sell a wider mix of bedding
By David Perry -- Furniture Today, February 4, 2007
High Point — Bedding specialty stores sell a much higher percentage of specialty sleep products than do furniture stores, according to a retail bedding survey conducted by Furniture/Today.
The survey shows that furniture stores have only minimal sales in the specialty sleep categories of airbeds, waterbeds, adjustable beds and futons, while bedding specialty retailers are doing much better in most of those categories.
The big picture: Innerspring bedding accounts for 84% of sales at furniture stores, with foam-core bedding (14%) accounting for most of the rest of their bedding sales. Bedding specialty retailers, on the other hand, said that innerspring bedding accounted for 60% of their bedding sales, with specialty sleep products making up the other 40%.
The specialty sleep mix at bedding specialty stores, according to the survey, looks like this:
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16% of sales are generated by foam-core beds.
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10% of sales come from futons.
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8% of sales come from airbeds.
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Adjustable beds account for 4% of sales.
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And flotation sleep (waterbeds) and other types of bedding each account for 1% of sales.
The survey was conducted last summer and represents the views of furniture and bedding retailers operating a total of more than 1,400 stores. Those stores are located in all regions of the country and together generate total sales of nearly $2.5 billion.
The survey also provides a look at the number of SKUs of various types of bedding carried by both furniture stores and bedding specialty stores, the opening price points for those types of bedding, and even the best-selling price points in each product segment.
Bedding specialty retailers typically carry far broader assortments than do furniture stores; that is one of the defining characteristics of specialty retailers. And the survey results bear that out.
For example, furniture stores carry a median of 13 innerspring SKUs, while the number is more than two times higher (30) for bedding specialty stores. And in the key foam-core category, furniture stores carry a median of only three SKUs, while the median is eight for bedding specialty stores.
The survey also found that furniture stores generally have much higher opening price points for each product category than do bedding specialty stores.
The median opening price point for innerspring models at furniture stores, for example, is $298; it is $199 at bedding specialty stores. The median starting price point for foam-core beds at furniture stores is a hefty $1,099; it is $999 at bedding specialty stores. Airbeds have the highest median opening price points of any product category: $2,199 at furniture stores and $1,399 at bedding specialty stores. Waterbeds open at a median of $1,299 at furniture stores, while the median opening price in that segment at bedding specialty stores is a much more modest $595. Adjustable beds open at a median of $1,199 in both furniture and bedding specialty stores.
Looking at median best-selling price points, the two channels show one key similarity: both report that $699 is the best seller for innerspring bedding. But there are many differences, too.
For example, the median best-selling price point for foam-core bedding is $1,349 in furniture stores; it is $1,699 in bedding specialty stores. For airbeds, the median best-selling price point in furniture stores is $2,199; it is $1,449 in bedding specialty stores. Adjustable beds show a big difference: a median of $1,999 is the best seller in furniture stores, while it is a much stronger $2,399 in bedding specialty stores. In waterbeds, the median best seller is $1,299 in furniture stores and $1,099 in bedding specialty stores. Futons also show a big difference: $129 is the median best seller for furniture stores, while it is $324 for bedding specialty stores.
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