Bedding winners share key ideas for retail growth
David Perry -- Furniture Today, September 22, 2003
This special section is an updated installment of the Retail Ideas presentation that Furniture/Today first introduced several years ago. You may recognize the logo on the cover. We hope the emphasis on retail success stories and strategies strikes a chord, too.
We know you like to read about retailers. Well, I like reading about them, too. And, when my producer friends aren't too busy making all kinds of news, I enjoy getting out in the field and visiting with retailers. That is where, to update an adage, the border rod meets the road.
In this special section we are profiling retailers with four very different retail concepts and product offerings.
Our cover story is a retailer that encompasses both brick-and-mortar retailing as well as telephone sales via its call centers. 1-800-Mattress, formerly known as Dial-A-Mattress, first dialed into success on the telephone, and then expanded into storefronts. Today the retailer has a strong network of dealers and is looking to further leverage the power of 1-800 numbers through umbrella marketing programs.
A more conventional model, that of the sleep specialty retailer, emerges in the story of California-based Sit 'n Sleep, a highly productive retailer with big stores, big selection and big sales figures. President Larry Miller runs a top-notch outfit.
We also take a look at one of the newest sleep specialty retailers: Sleep to Live. This is a concept launched by high-end bedding producer Kingsdown. We visit a company-owned Sleep to Live store in Durham, N.C. Several retail-owned stores will follow.
Our retail odyssey takes a fun turn at the Hastens bedding department in ABC Carpet & Home in New York City. This Swedish bedding line is a horse of a different color, so to speak.
We round out our retail package with another installment of our retail bedding sales associates' reports. Top sales associates from around the country tell you, in their words, how they close the sale. This is about the most useful data we can provide you, since nothing happens, to paraphrase another adage, until someone sells a bed.
We hope you find some bedding retail ideas here that help you sell more beds. Good luck on the sales floor!
