Mattress sales climb 7.6% in units, 11.7% in dollars in 2012

David Perry -- Furniture Today, February 5, 2013

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The mattress industry shook off a dismal December and finished 2012 with a 7.6% increase in bedding units and an 11.7% increase in the wholesale dollar value of bedding shipments, preliminary figures reveal.

For the year, innerspring mattress unit sales were up 4.6% while specialty sleep mattress units jumped 24.7%. The dollar value of innerspring mattresses was up 10.3% for the year, while the dollar value of specialty mattresses was up 20.6%, according to preliminary figures from the International Sleep Products Assn.

ISPA's December Bedding Barometer provides an early look at the industry's performance for the year. Final figures won't be available for a few months while ISPA surveys a broader sample of producers to get their figures.

The December report reflects the performance of 18 bedding producers that accounted for about 66% of total industry units and about 76% of the wholesale dollar value of bedding shipments in 2011. ISPA cautions that the performance of that sample may not necessarily reflect the performance of the total mattress industry.

In December, the ISPA sample reported a 5.4% unit decline in innerspring mattresses and a 2.2% unit decline in specialty mattresses, with a 7% drop in foundations, compared with the same month a year earlier. That left industry unit sales in December with a 5.9% decline.

The dollar value of innerspring mattresses sold in December dipped 3%, while the dollar value of specialty mattresses dropped 5.6%. The dollar value of foundations dropped 16.3% in December. For the month, the dollar value of bedding shipments was down 6.4%.

The average unit price dipped 0.5% in December to $217.40. For the year, the average unit price of innerspring mattresses was up 5.5% to $251.92, while it dropped 3.3% for specialty mattresses to $767.53. The industry's overall average unit price was up 3.9% for the year, to $215.92.

ISPA's December report also presented a quarterly breakdown that showed that innerspring mattress units and dollars outperformed specialty mattress units and dollars in the fourth quarter. For that quarter, innerspring mattress units were up 5.9% and innerspring mattress dollars were up 12.7%, while specialty mattress units were up 4.3% and specialty mattress dollars were down 1.1%, ISPA reported.

In the fourth quarter, the average unit price for innerspring mattresses was up 6.5%, while it dropped 5.1% for specialty mattresses, ISPA reported.