Decade of difference: Bedding makes gains in furniture stores

David Perry -- Furniture Today, December 17, 2012

HIGH POINT - The bedding category was a star performer on furniture store sales floors a decade ago. Today, that star shines even brighter.
     While key categories like stationary upholstery and master bedroom still command the same percentage of sales in furniture stores today that they did in 2002, the bedding category has increased its clout in the past decade.
     In 2002, bedding accounted for 8% of the selling space in furniture stores but generated 11% of total furniture store sales, according to Furniture/Today's 2002 Furniture Store Performance Report.
     The latest edition of that report, published this fall, shows that bedding is one of the few categories to command more selling space today than it did in 2002, and, significantly, to generate a higher percentage of sales than its percentage of selling space.
     Today, bedding accounts for 9% of the selling space in furniture stores but generates 13% of total sales.
     That differential of four percentage points is unmatched. In most product categories, furniture stores today are generating the same percentage of sales - or less - than the percentage of selling space for those categories.
     In the stationary upholstery segment, the figures are equal at 23%. In master bedroom, furniture stores today devote 15% of their selling space to that segment but it generates just 13% of sales. Similarly, motion upholstery accounts for 11% of the selling space on furniture store floors today, but accounts for just 9% of sales.
     Bedding, in contrast, just keeps getting stronger on furniture store floors. A vibrant category in 2002, it is even more robust in 2012.