First ISPA report on 2010 says sales rose 6.6%

Unit sales grew 7.3% as average price slipped

David Perry -- Furniture Today, February 7, 2011

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Bedding sales jumped 6.6% last year, according to a preliminary look at 2010 bedding business released by the International Sleep Products Assn.

The bedding industry trade association said that its sample of 20 large producers reported a 7.3% increase in bedding units last year. The average unit price, meanwhile, dipped 0.7% for the year to $195.68, ISPA said.

The figures provide an early look at how the industry fared last year. Final figures on industry performance will not be available for a few months.

The preliminary figures, based on a sample of producers accounting for a majority of U.S. bedding shipments, also showed a strong performance for the specialty sleep segment last year, which apparently gained market share at the expense of the innerspring segment.

The ISPA figures showed that specialty sleep mattress unit sales jumped 28.7% last year, far outpacing the 7% gain for innerspring mattress units.

Similarly, the dollar value of specialty mattresses jumped 25.8% last year, ISPA said, while the dollar value of innerspring mattresses posted a modest 1.7% gain.

The 20 companies participating in the monthly sample account for about 64% of total industry units and about 73% of the dollar value of bedding shipments, according to ISPA. But the association cautions, "The performance of the companies that participate in the Bedding Barometer may not necessarily reflect the performance of the full mattress industry."

ISPA also released the December results for its bedding sample, with unit sales growing 3.6% from the same month a year earlier and the dollar value of bedding shipments up 2.9%.

Innerspring mattress unit sales were up 2.7% while specialty mattress units rose 8.8%, ISPA said. The dollar value of innerspring mattress shipments dropped by 0.1% in December, while the dollar value of specialty mattress shipments grew 14.8%, ISPA said.