Retailers: Specialty sleep outlook remains positive
By David Perry -- Furniture Today, July 20, 2008
HIGH POINT — Some leading specialty sleep producers have hit a sales slump this year, but the outlook for the category remains positive, retailers say.
The bedding retailers were unanimous in asserting that the specialty sleep category has not yet peaked. Rather, they said, the category is suffering along with other bedding categories feeling the heat in a prolonged industry downturn.
New technologies and new products will keep specialty sleep sets in a strong position on retail floors, the retailers predicted.
“I don't believe that the specialty sleep category has peaked,” said Roger Magowitz, president of Virginia Beach, Va.-based Mattress Discounters. “For us, it is still a strong category. The fact is that there are fewer people in the market willing to spend big dollars these days.”
His business with Tempur-Pedic, which he describes as “still the workhorse in the category,” is up, Sealy's TrueForm memory foam line “is doing its job,” and he's “doing pretty well” with Sealy's SpringFree latex line, Magowitz said. He added that “it would help if Sealy could really make a push on latex,” a category that he says can generate more growth.
Steven Stone, president of Portland, Ore.-based BedMart, had a similar assessment of specialty sleep's standing these days.
“I don't think that specialty sleep has peaked,” he said, “but I do think that business has peaked for the moment. Premium bedding of all types, including Tempur-Pedic, is down.”
But Stone noted that it is becoming more difficult to view specialty sleep as a separate category now that mainline bedding producers have incorporated specialty foams and technologies into innerspring beds.
“Specialty sleep as defined by 'visco/Tempur foam and air' is just a form of market segregation,” he said. “There was a time when some limited players had it and other mainstream retailers didn't. It may have made for a way to describe market segments. But today, as most retailers have some or both of the 'specialty segments' on their floors, we really have another premium product in our lineup. I would suggest that we have integrated 'specialty' into the mattress game and now it is just one more bed to pick from.”
As distribution of specialty sleep has expanded, that has diluted “the religious fervor” of the specialists, Stone continued. But, he added, specialty sleep remains “the most exciting thing to talk about on the floor. Innerspring has become boring. In almost every brand, it has become the Model T and any foam of any type, latex or air feels different and exciting.”
Lisa Stansbury, vice president of Wilmington, N.C.-based Fred's Beds, joins Magowitz and Stone in believing that the specialty sleep segment has more growth in its future. “There are new specialty sleep products coming out all the time,” she said.
Stansbury also noted the growth of conventional bedding products that are cushioned with specialty sleep materials. “It is hard to see where to draw the line in specialty sleep these days,” she said. “I think there is so much more out there that we haven't even begun to touch in specialty sleep. For example, there is Leggett & Platt's Starry Night bed. That is special.”
She said Fred's Beds continues to do well with high-end specialty sleep beds, including some that combine springs, latex and memory foam. And she said her company continues to sell the original specialty sleep mattress: Waterbeds.
“Believe it or not,” Stansbury said, “but we still sell water, which is where we started many moons ago. “Waterbeds are like a good used car. You can replace all the parts and keep on keeping on. Not a day goes by that we don't sell something waterbed related. I don't think we will ever go back there, but as it has been said, 'What is old is new again.'”
| ISPA's mattress shipment numbers | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dollar amounts in billions and units in thousands | ||||
| Source: International Sleep Products Assn. annual report, 2007 |
||||
| Units | Percent change | Dollar value | Percent change | |
| 2006 to 2007 | 2006 to 2007 | |||
| Innerspring | ||||
| 2007 | 19,497 | -4.9% | $3.97 | -0.2% |
| 2006 | 20,492 | $3.98 | ||
| Non-innerspring | ||||
| 2007 | 2,269 | 9.4% | $1.30 | 10.2% |
| 2006 | 2,074 | $1.18 | ||
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ISPA: Specialty sleep down in '06
Jul 22, 2007 -
Specialty sleep products likely to stay hot
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