November mattress sales up in double digits

David Perry -- Furniture Today, January 7, 2013

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - The mattress industry recorded another strong month in November, with sales up 10.9% in units and 11.3% in dollars from the same month a year earlier.
     The International Sleep Products Assn. here released those figures in its November Bedding Barometer report. They represent the performance of 18 U.S. bedding producers that account for a majority of the units and dollars generated by the industry.
     The figures present a stronger view of the industry's performance in November than some bedding observers had been predicting. Business conditions were depressed in the weeks leading up to the November elections, some observers said.
     The reporting sample of producers generated a 0.3% increase in the average unit price in November, to $218.10.
For the first 11 months of the year, the sample reported an 8.8% unit increase and a healthy 13.5% increase in the wholesale dollar value of bedding shipments. The average unit price was up 4.3% through November, to $215.81, ISPA reported.
     The Bedding Barometer figures reflect the performance of producers that last year accounted for about 66% of all units shipped and about 76% of the wholesale revenue of the full market, ISPA said.
     But the bedding industry's trade association cautions that the monthly results "may not necessarily reflect the performance of the full mattress industry" because of market share and distribution changes, among other factors.