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Mattress sales rise 6.2% in October

Industry notches first monthly gain this year

David Perry -- Furniture Today, December 11, 2009

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The mattress industry got a double-barreled dose of good news in October, with bedding units posting a 3.5% gain and dollars increasing by 6.2% from the same month last year. It was the first time this year that the dollar value of bedding shipments broke into positive territory.

Despite the October uptick, unit sales are down 12% for the year to date, while the dollar value of shipments is down 12.9%, according to the International Sleep Products Assn.

The trade association reported the results in its October Bedding Barometer. They reflect the business done by 18 mattress producers that account for about 46% of the industry's unit sales and about 56% of the wholesale value of the market, ISPA said.

Bedding executives cheered the positive results in October as an indication that the industry is finally shaking off the effects of the recession.

Mattress units were up 5.9% in October, ISPA said, with foundations posting a 1% gain. The dollar value of mattress shipments was up by 6.7%, while the dollar value of foundations was up by 4.3%, according to ISPA.

The average unit selling price of mattresses increased by 0.8% in October, while the average unit selling price for foundations was up 3.3%. Overall, the average unit selling price in October was up by 2.6%, ISPA said. That was the first monthly increase since July, and it marked only the third time this year that the average unit selling price has been in positive territory.

ISPA also released a second set of industry figures for October and for the year. But those figures include "certain anomalies" that distort year-to-year comparisons, ISPA said. Furniture/Today has elected not to report those figures because they are not as representative of industry performance as the figures that remove the "anomalous cases." All figures in this story are those that provide apples-to-apples comparisons with the previous year's results.

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Mattress sales climb 6.2% in October

Dec 14, 2009

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