Five Star Mattress to cut prices
Reductions will range up to 32%
David Perry -- Furniture Today, July 11, 2008
HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — Swimming against the tide, Five Star Mattress said it is cutting prices on every bed in its line.
The maker of promotional and mid-priced bedding said the price cuts will range as high as 32% and will trim some wholesale prices by hundreds of dollars.
President Donna Zett said the producer, which has a manufacturing supply agreement with Serta, is moving aggressively to grab business in what has been a prolonged industry slump.
“This is not a temporary rollback, but new, more competitive pricing that will rock the industry, providing higher margins for dealers than was ever thought possible,” she said. “We are making a big push to gain additional business. We are the only producer in the industry that is lowering prices.”
Zett said other bedding producers are raising prices by 8% to 15%, responding to rising costs of raw materials. Asked how Five Star can move in the opposite direction, she responded: “We’ve got six months’ of experience under our belt. We know where the balance of our mix is. We can target the right prices at the popular price points.”
The Five Star line currently retails from $299 to $999. The company did not disclose a range for the repriced line, which it will unveil at its new Las Vegas Market showroom, World Market Center A-735.
The producer made its debut at the Las Vegas Market in January. Five Star was launched by the owners of Serta, who said they wanted to provide a strong value line to bedding retailers.
Zett said the price cuts send a message to the industry. “We are making a statement,” she said. “We are looking out for our dealers.”
She said the company also has boosted the profiles of its beds, collectively adding more than 15 inches of additional comfort and height to its line.
Five Star plans to introduce a number of new beds in Las Vegas. The Temesy is a memory foam bed, while the SunStone is a 480 foam-encased Verticoil bed with memory foam and a knit cover. The Allium is a new starter mattress.
Zett said the new lineup demonstrates Five Star’s expertise as a value bedding producer. “We are showing what we are made of,” she said.
The new showroom features an Internet café meeting area. “It is sure to attract many dealers looking to improve their business,” she said.
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How do you reduce prices by up to 32%, while raw materials continue to go up? Basically they just admitted to gouging every bedding buyer that was already buying 5-star. Are they going to give money back to all the retailers they have ripped off this year?
- 2008-16-7 04:48:31 EDT -
As a manufacturer with over 34 years of experience; I found this to be a slap in the face of the industry. Quality components DO COST MORE. We know the industry and realize that EVERY component cheap or good is going up in price. How many of you furniture retailers by imported furniture from Coaster or AICO? How much have they gone up in price lately? Use your heads and realize that we are a global industry now like every other industry. We have to learn to sell better products at fair prices and learn to dare I say it....educate our customers.
- 2008-11-7 12:34:46 EDT -
President Donna Zett, when asked "how Five Star can move in an opposite direction" said some words....can anyone explain how those words answer the question???
- 2008-10-7 09:17:32 EDT -
Because Five Star manufactured by Serta, I assume overpricing fits into the equation.
- 2008-10-7 07:42:02 EDT -
Either the line was W-A-Y overpriced to start with or they are taking something out of the product
- 2008-10-7 02:09:03 EDT
