Growing emphasis on bedding paying off for Linder's Furniture
David Berry -- Furniture Today, October 5, 2010
Exterior of Linder’s Furniture store in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.
RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. - Linder's Furniture is a furniture store that is putting a spotlight on bedding. And that spotlight is growing ever larger as the retailer moves its bedding business into the double-digit range.
"Bedding used to be 2% to 4% of our business," said Eric Foucrier, a former waterbed retailer who has been with Linder's for decades and is now president. "Now we are on the verge of doing 14% of our business in bedding. That's our goal for the year. We have a shot at it."
The growing mattress success at Linder's marks that retailer as a standout in the category, one that commands less than 10% of the volume at many furniture stores.
How has Linder's, a 10-store chain based in Garden Grove, Calif., emerged from the furniture store pack?
A partnership with Sealy has paid off for Linder’s, company officials say.
"We are partnering with our suppliers," Foucrier said. "We are now a Sealy house and we get more attention from them. And we added Anatomic Global, which has helped our business grow. Also, we are finding things that we can advertise in bedding, and we are being consistent with that."
Another key was creating bedding departments rather than just showing bedding with case goods, as some furniture stores do. "Devoting space to bedding galleries was critical," Foucrier said. "That is the biggest thing we changed. We put a department in and we got it going with the help of Sealy, which helped train our sales people."
Foucrier admitted that Linder's was inspired to boost its bedding business by the success of furniture retailers like Art Van, a standout in the mattress arena. "We saw that other furniture retailers could get double-digit bedding sales and we said that we wanted to do that, too," he noted.
Why focus on bedding? Foucrier cited several reasons. In terms of Gross Margin Return on Inventory "it's the best category you can have," he said. And returns are lower than in other product categories, he added.
Night-sky theme adds distinctive element to bedding department at Linder’s.
One way that Linder's keeps returns low is by "full disclosure" in the sales process, Foucrier said. "We tell the customer that if they are buying a pillowtop, it is not unusual to notice impressions in the mattress," he said. "Our strategy is to educate the customer on how the mattress will perform."
After body impressions, the biggest complaints about mattresses relate to comfort, Foucrier said. The retailer encourages consumers to sleep on their new sleep sets for 30 days, a period of time during which most comfort complaints disappear.
Sleep accessories offer the potential to significantly boost the sales tickets at Linder's. "Add a couple of pillows and a mattress pad and you add at least a couple of hundred dollars to the sale," Foucrier noted.
The retailer sees sleep accessories, including adjustable beds, as offering significant growth potential, he said. The company sells beds from $398 to about $2,600.
Eric Foucrier sits on new Embody specialty sleep model by Sealy. The line is off to a good start for the retailer.
Linder's partnered with Sealy in 2004, and Foucrier describes that producer as "a fabulous partner." He added: "I like selling one brand. Our sales team sells Sealy as the best."
On the memory foam side of the business, Linder's dropped a well-known memory foam brand to add Anatomic Global, a growing specialty sleep producer based in California. "Their products are superior to other memory foam lines," Foucrier said. "They are helping our business grow. We are very happy with their line and will be adding another mattress there. Customer response to their products is tremendous."
Sealy's new specialty sleep line, Embody, "looks good and is selling," Foucrier said. A point-of-sale model in Linder's stores demonstrates the superior air flow that the Embody line provides, he said.
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