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Hinshaw: Alter dialogue to focus on better sleep

David Perry, Executive editor -- Furniture Today, December 7, 2009

Here's an intriguing idea: The best time to talk to mattress shoppers is before they are actually mattress shoppers.

Kingsdown CEO Eric Hinshaw advanced that thought the other day while we were sitting at a conference table in an office at North Hills, the trendy mixed-use development in midtown Raleigh, N.C., that includes several nice stores, including a good-looking Mattress Firm store that displays Kingsdown's Sleep to Live line.

Hinshaw was discussing the approach that his company is using with its new Sleep to Live retail format and product line. The concept is to talk about technology, science, health and wellness rather than low mattress prices. And when you talk about subjects like health and wellness, he noted, you can have a very different conversation with consumers than one focused on finding the cheapest mattress.

There's no doubt that Hinshaw is right, but unfortunately, the industry isn't cooperating these days. Producers are stressing “value” price points and retailers are too. Lower-priced beds are selling these days.

In the long run, we've got to change the dialogue we have with consumers. Research that Furniture/Today conducted with HGTV this year found that consumers would spend hundreds of dollars more on a sleep set if they understood that it would bring them better health. Guess what? A better bed does bring a variety of health benefits. But we still aren't doing a good job of selling better health.

I recently made a presentation to a group on the findings of that research. I showed table after table documenting how much more consumers would pay for a bed that delivered better health benefits. One longtime industry player summed up my presentation this way: That's pie-in-the-sky stuff.

Sadly, he's all too correct. Selling better health remains an elusive goal in our industry.

Eric Hinshaw told me that when consumers shop for mattresses, they often put up walls. They don't want to listen to sales associates. They want to get in and out of the shopping experience as fast as possible. They use price as a surrogate for product knowledge.

The results can be catastrophic in the search for a truly comfortable, supportive bed.

Despite the challenges, we've got to keep banging the drum for better sleep. Sleep Doctor Michael Breus is doing a good job of highlighting the benefits of a good night's sleep. So is Kingsdown with its Sleep to Live program.

The mattress industry has a great product to sell. Wouldn't it be great if we sold it for the best reasons possible, not just the cheapest reasons?

Contact David Perry at dperry@reedbusiness.com

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