Special touches help consumers feel at ease at America's Mattress
David Perry, Bedding Editor -- Furniture Today, June 1, 2008
Grand Junction, Colo. — The comforts of home, complete with a crackling fire for those cold nights on the high plains of Colorado, offer a warm invitation to shop for mattresses at the America's Mattress stores here.
Owners Patrick and Ashley Unverferth, who operate two mattress and furniture stores here, know that putting consumers at ease is a key to success when it comes to mattress shopping. So the Unverferths incorporated a number of home-like touches in their mattress stores — and watched their mattress sales accelerate.
Their America's Mattress stores are part of the exclusive Serta-only retail network, a nationwide group of retailers operating under the America's Mattress banner. The success of the new look at the Unverferths' stores here led to the rollout of the new "customer experience" retail format recently unveiled for the America's Mattress stores.
Furniture/Today recently posed a series of questions on the new home-friendly retail format to this dynamic mattress retailing couple:
Q: You recently pilot tested a new look in mattress stores for the America's Mattress program that features bedroom vignettes and a more home-like feel than traditional sleep shops. Is it true there is "no place like home" when it comes to selling mattresses?
A: "It is absolutely true that there is no place like home when it comes to selling mattresses. When a customer can imagine a mattress in their home, they are more likely to make a purchase. If the store atmosphere is home-like, it's much easier for a customer to envision sleeping on that mattress in their own home."
Q: The new "customer experience" store concept that you pilot tested for Serta makes an impression on all five senses. Why is it important to appeal to the five senses?
A: "The basics of marketing tell us that appealing to all five senses is more likely to make a lasting impression on a customer. By incorporating elements that appeal to the five senses, we are helping to stand out in the customer's mind and encourage a more pleasant shopping experience."
Q: Is this new store concept a more female-friendly concept? Why is that important?
A: "Yes, the new store concept is much more female-friendly than most traditional mattress stores. The design is more female-friendly simply because statistics tell us that women are the main purchasers of mattresses, therefore, we want to appeal to women when they are shopping. To most women, a mattress is more than just a commodity, it's an emotional purchase. Women tend to favor warm, inviting spaces with home-like details and the new America's Mattress store concept achieves just that."
Q: The entrance area in your stores features a fireplace — an unusual touch for sleep shops. Why did you include the fireplace and what does that entrance area accomplish?
A: "The fireplace is a warm welcome for our customers and is a feature you find in many homes, which contributes to the home-like atmosphere the new store concept promotes. It also helps customers to relax and envision our mattresses in their very own home."
Q: The price tags in your stores are much smaller than the big tags or price sheets featured on many beds on retail floors today. What is the advantage of smaller price tags?
A: "The smaller price tags allow us to sell to our customers based more on comfort, rather than on price alone. If customers aren't staring at large price points, they are more likely to try a mattress, and eventually fall in love with it and then purchase it, even if it costs a little bit more than they were initially intending to spend. In addition, we found that the large, bulky price tags previously used were cumbersome to customers as they were mattress shopping."
Q: What are some of the secrets of your success as mattress retailers?
A: "We have found success as mattress retailers by having powerful store guarantees and a genuine commitment to those guarantees, and to our customers. Creating a store experience unlike any other mattress store has also helped to distinguish us from our competition and we attribute much of our success to that."
Q: What is the key to success for a mattress retail salesperson in today's business climate?
A: "A successful salesperson should have commitment to a proven sales technique that's executed in the same manner for every customer. In addition, you must genuinely believe in the product that you are selling and have a whole-hearted interest in serving your customer's needs. Happy customers make for happy salespeople and happy salespeople make for happy customers!"
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