ISPA slashes 2009 bedding forecast
By David Perry -- Furniture Today, October 6, 2008
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Better days are coming for the mattress industry next year, although they won't be as good as previously predicted, according to a new industry forecast just released by the International Sleep Products Assn.
ISPA is now calling for industry shipments to rise 4.2% in dollars in 2009 and just 1.2% in units — a significantly weaker rebound than the gains of 7.5% in dollars and 4% in units that an earlier forecast had projected.
The bedding industry's trade association said it was taking the unusual step of revisiting the forecast it issued this past spring, for reasons including the uncertainty raised by the current economic crisis, price volatility in the energy market, and the November election. A revised analysis of economic conditions, and another new forecast, will be issued in December.
Significantly better days are coming in 2010, ISPA believes. Its Statistics Committee, which prepares the forecasts based on its analysis of recent sales data in the mattress market and an econometric study prepared by the University of Michigan, sees gains of 6% units and 9.5% in dollars in 2010.
This year has been a sobering one, bedding observers say.
ISPA's Bedding Barometer report for August, which presents the performance of “18 leading U.S. mattress producers,” shows that August was a sales disaster, with unit shipments plummeting by 19.2% and dollars down 16.1% from the same month last year.
The only good news in August was that the ISPA sample reported a 3.8% increase in the average unit selling price.
Year to date, the ISPA sample shows unit shipments down by 7.8% and the dollar value down 8.3%. ISPA's latest forecast for performance this year calls for units to be down overall by 7.5%, with dollars down by 9.5%.
