Spotlight shines on selling sounder sleep
By David Perry -- Furniture Today, May 7, 2007
Grapevine, Texas — Furniture/Today's second Bedding Conference put the spotlight on the benefits of selling better sleep.
The sold-out event, held at the Gaylord Texan here, drew a crowd of about 230 that was a who's who of leading bedding producers, retailers and suppliers. The conference theme, explored in presentations and panel discussions, was "Meeting the Challenges of Bedding's Brave New World."
The conference convened as the industry faces a year of challenging business, with Furniture/Today forecasting that unit shipments will be down. Still, a number of speakers asserted, the industry can boost sales — and its image — by touting the health benefits of better sleep.
Mark Quinn, group executive vice president, sales and marketing, in Leggett & Platt's bedding group, delivered a buzz-generating address urging attendees to join the better sleep crusade. He said L&P is launching a comprehensive public relations program to spread that gospel to producers and retailers. His address was one of the highlights of the conference.
Jim Gabbert, owner of Minnesota-based upscale retailer Gabberts, showed how a better sleep message can play out at retail, outlining details of his new boutique sleep shop, called Zia. The first prototype store, in Eden Prairie, Minn., is full of sleep accessories, including aromatherapy items, sleepwear, books and CDs — and, of course, mattresses
Craig McAndrews, co-founder of the Innovative Retail Group, said the industry would close more sales by touting the quality of sleep consumers will enjoy with new bedding, rather than stressing product specifications and price.
The conference fostered a climate of hope that the industry can make significant changes in its marketing programs and thus broaden the appeal of its products, attendees said.
Keynoter Larry Wilson, president of the Wilson Collaborative, set the tone by noting the industry must change if it wants different results.
"If I always do what I've always done," he said, "I'll always get what I've always got."
Wilson noted that General Motors lost ground in the auto market by missing key consumer and business trends, and challenged attendees to unleash the full power of their leadership abilities.
Kim Knopf, owner of retailer Mattress Warehouse in Winfield, W.Va., built on those themes by noting that Wilson had helped her company embark on a new phase of growth. She explained how a special retreat for all employees was a transforming event in the company's history.
Knopf, one of the top female executives in the bedding industry, also said the male-dominated bedding industry is providing more opportunities for female leaders.
The conference tackled several key issues, including bedding warranties, the implementation of a new federal mattress flammability standard, the introduction of Chinese-made mattresses in the U.S. market (story, page 20), and the continuing growth of specialty sleep products.
The warranty issue sparked a variety of comments by executives of the five largest bedding producers — Sealy, Simmons, Serta, Tempur-Pedic and Spring Air — who shared the stage and also sounded off on other key topics (story, page 20).
Supplier Magi Seal used the conference to unveil details of a new comprehensive service plan, the SleepTrust Guarantee, which it said offers benefits for key industry players. The new guarantee could make the traditional 10-year mattress warranty a thing of the past, the company said.
On the mattress flammability front, consultant Don Hofmann said the industry has an unprecedented opportunity to boost sales by talking about the new technology in FR beds. He said consumer research shows that mattress purchase intent soars when consumers are given FR messages.
Another FR speaker, Susan Ebaugh of Lilly Management Group, said the new FR standard will reshape the face of the bedding industry, affecting producers, retailers and consumers (story, page 22).
The conference attendees included virtually the entire roster of Top 10 bedding producers, most of whom were sponsors. The retail contingent was headed by two of the nation's leading bedding retailers, No. 3 Mattress Firm of Houston and No. 6 Mattress Giant of nearby Addison, Texas.
Those two joined 1800mattress.com of Long Island City, N.Y., and American Furniture Warehouse of Englewood, Colo., in the spotlight at a gala awards dinner, sponsored by Comfort Solutions. Furniture/Today and its conference co-sponsor, the Home Furnishings International Assn., honored those four retailers as Retail Giants of Bedding.
The supplier contingent was headed by Leggett & Platt, the headline sponsor, and included such well-known companies as Hickory Springs, Latex International, Protect-A-Bed, Protect-All, Culp, Tietex, Magi Seal and Freudenberg. Also participating were suppliers HomeDirectUSA, Lenzing Fibers, Color Ad and Wells Fargo Financial.
