Multicultural markets will account for over $3 trillion in sales in 2011 and that number continues to grow. As an industry, how well do we understand the various cultures that are around us? In addition, how do we make an effort to reach out to them in a unique way? I am not talking about having several ethnicities appear in your advertising. I’m talking about really digging in and trying to understand the lifestyles of the various ethnicities that we serve. (more…)
Size matters in the bedroom, but in this case, SMALLER IS BETTER!
Calm down, it’s not what you think. I’m talking about the mattress you are sleeping on. At the High Point Furniture Market, I had a conversation with my friend Allyn Beard, Director of AH Beard in Australia, about the mistake the bedding industry is making by building beds that are so thick! (more…)
Have you heard this before?: “The experience of buying a new mattress is worse than buying a new car.”
Not only have I heard it, but I have seen it show up more than once in market research. It is true that there are some pushy sales people out there who aren’t interested in helping consumers solve a problem, but are more concerned about making the sale. I have seen retail sales associates (also known as RSAs) ignore customers when they walk in, give bad information as it relates to the products they are selling, talk badly about their competition, wear crappy looking clothes and just flat out add no value to the process. (more…)
We just finished up what was, in my opinion, a great industry conference in St. Petersburg, Florida. The International Sleep Products Association (ISPA) hosts this event every year for manufacturers, suppliers, and retailers in the bedding business. The goal is to get everyone together to discuss what is going on in the mattress industry and to take back information that will drive our businesses. There are a lot of things I could talk about to recap last week, such as the great speakers or the power of connecting with other industry professionals and how much you can learn from one another. Instead, I am going to talk about something a little more constructive.
Where in the hell was everybody? (more…)
I know that we have our own issues in the mattress world, but the furniture guys are in worse shape than we are.
Consider that the mattress guys spend significantly more money on national advertising to promote our brands. By this, I don’t mean the coop funds that manufacturers give to retailers to swing the door. I am talking about honest-to-goodness national buys that go towards building the brand and building value in the products that we sell. We have people out there talking about the direct connection between our products and the real benefits of using our products, like better sleep, which leads to better life. Where are the furniture producers? (more…)