A recent trip to the amazing retail phenomenon that is Ikea left us thinking the world-class merchant is sending decidedly mixed messages on bedding warranties. We visited Ikea's bustling store in Atlanta and were impressed with so many things the Swedish retailer does to create excitement in its stores.

Since I happen to have strong views on mattress warranties, as many of you know, I took a close look at Ikea's mattress department to see how Ikea handles them.

First of all, I noticed, right up there on the wall, a big circle with this message: "Limited warranty. 25 years." I didn't like the look of that. Why is Ikea making such a big deal about the length of its warranties, which happen to be longer than most?

I felt a little better when I read the fine print: "Mattresse...Read More

From the strange-but-true department: A Korean bedding manufacturer has entered the U.S. market with a rock-hard, heated bed. We are talking real rocks here, folks. Hot rocks, you could say.

Yes, JangSoo Industry Co. has begun selling stone beds to U.S. consumers. Koreans, it seems, already are sold on the benefits of stone beds, which have found a niche here in Korean communities.
And we thought firm bedding was on its way out.

These stone beds are more sophisticated than you might think. The surface of the mattress is made of a smooth layer of stone, anything from quartz to topaz to jade. The heat comes from coils under the stone.

This concept of heating a large stone is not new for Koreans, my research indicates. An article in The Korea Times informed me that "ondol" is a system ...Read More

This week we reflect upon a very provocative finding about the high end of the market that we shared with you earlier this year: that 56% of all dollars spent on bedding are at price points of $1,000 and up.

That’s what analysis of a broad-based consumer research study we conducted in 2005 told us. And that’s what we told you.

But in the last few weeks, we’ve gotten comments that raise questions about that figure. One of the nation’s top bedding retailers called us and challenged our 56% figure. He was adding up his estimates on high-end bedding sales, based on wholesale shipment figures, and he couldn’t get anywhere close to our number.
My response to him: “We approached this issue from a different perspective. We got our figures from a consumer research study.”

His reply: “The consumers may no...Read More

The bedding industry got a three-pronged boost at the end of August with a series of mattress ads in Parade magazine, the hugely popular weekend newspaper publication.

We can’t recall seeing three mattress ads in a single issue of Parade, but that was the potent offering that joined the ad mix in the Aug. 27 issue — just in time to prime the pump for the critical Labor Day sales that are now in their homestretch.

Those ads — run by Sealy, Select Comfort and Sears — should help create more bedding awareness on the part of consumers. Anything that we do as an industry to help bedding stand out in consumers’ minds is a good thing. Today’s consumers have plenty of t...Read More