Top 25 Bedding Retailers Use Varied Formats to Set Fast Pace
David Perry -- Furniture Today, September 8, 2011
David Perry Executive Editor
They come in a variety of business formats, but they have one thing in common: They are setting the pace in bedding sales.
Our latest edition of the Top 25 Bedding Retailers, one of the key reports on the bedding calendar each year, can be found elsewhere in this issue.
Overall, the bedding heavyweights had a surprisingly strong year, boosting their bedding revenues by a healthy 8.8%. Almost half of those retailers posted double-digit gains, and four were up more than 20%. There is only one newcomer to the Top 25 Bedding Retailers list, but that retailer - Tempur-Pedic - made a big splash. The memory foam company had direct sales last year of $50 million, a sizzling 38.9% jump over the year-earlier figure. Tempur-Pedic's business is the envy of the industry.
There is no change at the head of the list. No. 1 Sleepy's reigns supreme, with bedding revenues of $725 million. But No. 2 is aggressive Mattress Firm, which is growing much faster than Sleepy's and shows no signs of slowing down in the next few years.
Success in bedding takes many different forms. The single strongest channel of distribution, based on the number of retailers on the Top 25 list, is the furniture store channel with 11 companies. Those 11 collectively posted a 9.8% gain in bedding revenues.
The next-strongest channel is the bedding specialty store segment, with seven companies on the list. Those seven were up 9.1% last year.
The fastest-growing channel is the "other" category, where Big Lots and Tempur-Pedic together posted a 17.4% increase in bedding revenues.
The three department stores on the list - Macy's, Sears and JCPenney - were up 5.9% last year, while the two warehouse clubs - Sam's Club and Costco - together were up 4.6%.
This diverse group of bedding retailers demonstrates that mattress shoppers are well served by a number of different retail formats.
While the furniture stores have a strong contingent on the list, the elite performers continue to be major bedding specialty chains. Six of the top 10 positions, and four of the top five spots, are held by bedding specialty stores. No. 4 Sam's Club was the only non-specialty bedding retailer to crack the Top 5, joining No. 1 Sleepy's, No. 2 Mattress Firm, No. 3 Select Comfort and No. 5 The Sleep Train.
We will have more thoughts on key channels of distribution in a few weeks when our bedding distribution report hits the paper. But for now we end with a salute to a vibrant group of Top 25 Bedding Retailers. They are setting a strong pace, one that other bedding retailers across the country would be well advised to emulate.
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