Bedding sales growth slows in June, says ISPA

David Perry -- Furniture Today, August 13, 2012

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Bedding growth slowed sharply in June as units inched up just 1% and the dollar value of bedding shipments grew 5.3% from the same month a year earlier, an industry report said. Specialty sleep bedding continues to set the sales pace.

The June Bedding Barometer report, issued by the International Sleep Products Assn., reflects the performance of a sample of 18 large bedding producers.

The modest June growth rates were much lower than the 12.8% unit growth recorded in May and the 18.3% jump in the dollar value of bedding shipments that month.

The June report includes data on innerspring and specialty sleep performance, and it revealed that innerspring mattress units declined 1.3% that month, while specialty mattress units were up 13.5%. The dollar value of innerspring mattress shipments was up 6.4% in June, while specialty mattress dollars were up 8.7%.

For the first six months of the year, bedding unit sales were up 8.3% from the 2011 pace, while the dollar value of bedding shipments rose 15.9%, the ISPA report said.

Innerspring mattress units were up 3.7% through June, while specialty mattress units were up 38.8%. The dollar value of innerspring mattresses was up 10% through June, far behind the 37.2% increase recorded for the dollar value of specialty mattresses.

But there is some bad news for the specialty sleep segment. The average unit price of specialty mattresses dropped 4.3% in June, to $774.29, while the average unit price of innerspring mattresses was up 7.8% that month, to $254.85.

The AUP decline for specialty mattresses suggests the category is trading down to lower-priced models, bedding observers said.

For the first six months of the year, the average unit price of innerspring mattresses was up 6.1%, to $250.03, while the average unit price of specialty mattresses was down 1.1%, to $760.70, ISPA said. Overall, the average unit price in the first six months was up 7%, to $215.18, the ISPA sample reported.

The Bedding Barometer reports show the performance of bedding producers that last year accounted for 66% of total units and about 76% of the wholesale dollar value of bedding shipments.

ISPA cautions, however, that the results of its sample "may not necessarily reflect the performance of the full mattress industry" because of market share changes or distribution changes.