Share this on

Comfort Solutions thriving

David Perry -- Furniture Today, October 4, 2010

WILLOWBROOK, Ill. - Top 10 bedding producer Comfort Solutions, one of the hottest bedding brands last year, says it is setting a torrid sales pace this year.
     Bedding veteran Dave Roberts, who has been president of Comfort Solutions for almost four years, said the company is riding a 30%-plus sales increase this year, one that keeps it in elite company in a crowded bedding marketplace. He said he believed Comfort Solutions is the fastest-growing major bedding brand this year.
     Roberts said those gains, far above industry-wide sales figures, are the result of growing business with major bedding retailers including such heavy hitters as Sleepy's, Rooms To Go, Sears and JCPenney, along with a stronger lineup of licensees.
     Comfort Solutions is succeeding on the marketing, merchandising and product development fronts, with moves made by an experienced, deep roster of sales and marketing executives who are driving the success at the company, according to Roberts. He calls that lineup "the finest team of executive talent in the industry."
Riding a 30%-plus sales increase this year
     The producer just launched its first national advertising campaign, an ad in the venerable Parade magazine that kicked off an important Labor Day sales event. "The results have been stellar," Roberts said.
     Comfort Solutions finished last year with revenues of $140 million, according to Furniture/Today's Top 15 Bedding Producers report. It posted the second-highest sales gain of any bedding major with a 5.3% increase over 2008. That performance moved the company into the No. 6 position on the Top 15 list, and was a notable achievement in a year in which the industry was down overall by almost double digits.
     The gains this year are even stronger, Roberts said in an interview at the company's headquarters here. They have resulted from a push by the producer to add accounts; 63 new accounts added last year should generate $74 million in business this year, he said.
     Moves to sharpen its competitive edge have enabled the producer to stay on a fastgrowth track. New licensees in Texas, Ohio and California have given Comfort Solutions a stronger presence in the market, according to Roberts, helping drive sales growth. And the producer just signed Greenville, S.C.-based Park Place, a longtime independent, which will produce Comfort Solutions lines for several southeastern states.
     "We initiated strategic changes to the licensing structure," Roberts said. "We made these changes to strengthen our licensing group so we can move forward more quickly."
      Comfort Solutions currently has 10 domestic licensees from coast to coast, which Roberts said represent the strongest collection of licensees at the group since he arrived there in 2000 as executive vice president of marketing and merchandising.
     Changing dynamics in the industry today demand that licensing groups have "the right licensees with the right factory sizes and with fiscal strength," he said.
     Comfort Solutions ranks as the largest pure licensee player, a model that was once the norm but is now challenged by bedding majors that own and operate most if not all of their plants.
     Roberts said the company reassessed its strategic direction two years ago. "Our model wasn't broken," he said, "but we decided to break it anyway. We couldn't continue on the path we were on for the past 10 years."
     The producer asked itself a tough question: What's our reason for being? It decided the answer was that it would set itself apart by emphasizing innovative and distinctive product lines, employing more dynamic and focused marketing, and strengthening its organization, among other actions.
     "We are bringing relevancy to the market by things we are doing that are outside the box," Roberts said. "Those include our new Sleep iD line, our Laura Ashley line, the way we present ourselves in the market and even the way we display our products in our showroom.
     "We are not just throwing out specifications and point-ofpurchase materials. We have built a strong sales machine, which is the only way to sell top retailers," he said.
     The executive team at Comfort Solutions is an all-star lineup of bedding veterans, Roberts said. It includes Dave Binke, executive vice president of sales; Owen Shoemaker, senior vice president of product and marketing development; Ross Olinski, senior vice president of manufacturing; Vince Zupkus, chief financial officer; Chris Henning, senior vice president of strategic planning and new business development; Mike Bookbinder, senior vice president of retail sales development, and Chad Megard, Eric Jent and Bill Wingard, all vice presidents of sales.
     "This feels like the New York Yankees with the talent the company has pulled together," said Shoemaker, a bedding veteran who joined the company almost two years ago.
     The product moves also have been significant.
     Comfort Solutions is building its business by adding to its brand portfolio. The once-flagship King Koil line remains an important part of the portfolio, and leads the fall promotional push that kicked off the Labor Day sales period, but has plenty of company with the Laura Ashley line, the Natural Response specialty sleep line, and the eXtended Life line of beds designed for plus-sized sleepers.
     Laura Ashley, which Shoemaker calls "the original lifestyle brand," has been a hit for Comfort Solutions, he said. Its colorful fabrics resonate with female consumers, bedding's key decision makers. The brand has a 92% awareness rating among women and is gaining ground in the market, Shoemaker said.
     Another distinctive brand is the XL line of heavy duty beds, engineered with upgraded foams and innerspring units.
The beds, designed for the growing number of overweight consumers in the country who may need more substantial sleep systems, passed tough torture tests in the lab. Shoemaker said the beds "are virtually body impression proof."
      And the new Sleep iD line offers personalized, dual comfort through an innovative retail kiosk system.
     For more on Sleep iD go to www.furnituretoday.com.

Share this on

Cindy Williams joins Comfort Solutions as SVP marketing

Mar 8, 2012

Comfort Solutions names two to SVP posts

Mar 15, 2012

Also by this author

Also by David Perry

Featured Company

FurnitureCore.com

FurnitureCore.com is a dynamic web application aimed at the furniture industry. Retailers and manufacturers alike will find our deep reserve of tools to be exactly what their furniture business needs.www.furniturecore.com... more