Selling Sleep

David Perry -- Furniture Today, January 7, 2013

Marketing overview
We begin the new year with a look at data that drives the mattress market. It's a basic axiom that lowering the mattress replacement cycle will boost mattress sales. And many consumers clearly hold onto their mattress long after it has lost its optimal comfort life, as this research indicates.
     These findings come from a Better Sleep Council Consumer Survey that sampled opinions on several key mattress topics. The BSC is the education arm of the International Sleep Products Assn. It aims to help consumers take action to sleep better. Often, the BSC says, that action is buying a new mattress.
     This data reveals that about one in 10 consumers is sleeping on a mattress that is less than one year old, with about four in 10 sleeping on a mattress that is between one and five years old.
     But that leaves about half of the consumers sleeping on beds that are more than five years old. That is a big marketing opportunity. The odds are that many of those consumers are sleeping on beds that have lost their spring or their bounce.

Applying the findings
These tables would make powerful displays on retail sales floors. The table on mattress age would introduce that issue to consumers, making it a topic for conversation. It would encourage consumers to think about the age of their mattress - a very good thing for them to be thinking about when they are in a mattress store.
     And the data showing that older consumers have older mattresses gives all consumers a quick reality check. The reality is that many consumers are sleeping on old mattresses and need a new one.

Mattress Age

How old is the mattress you’re currently sleeping on?

Key demographic differences

The older people get, the older their mattress

+ 28% of 18- to 34-year-olds have a mattress more than 5 years old.

+ 44% of 35- to 54-year-olds have a mattress more than 5 years old.

+ 54% of those 55 or older have a mattress more than 5 years old.

Source: Better Sleep Council 2012 Consumer Survey