Bedding shipments hit record, driven by Three S's
By Michael J. Knell -- Furniture Today, June 2, 2003
Ottawa — Canada's bedding producers saw continued growth in 2002 as industry shipments reached a record $586.7 million, up 8.3% over the previous year's C$541.7 million.
The industry continues to be dominated by the Three S's — in this case, Sealy Canada, Simmons Canada and Serta of Canada — all three of which posted solid gains last year.
With total sales of C$349.6 million last year, the Three S's held a dominating 59.6% share of the Canadian bedding market. In 2001, their total sales of C$312.4 million accounted for 57.7% of the market.
All three brands are on the floors of every major Canadian bedding retailer, including Sears Canada, Sleep Country Canada, Leon's and The Brick. They also all do a strong business with the two dominant buying groups — Cantrex and Mega.
For most of the past few decades, Simmons Canada had held the top spot among Canadian bedding producers, but it yielded that position to rival Sealy Canada in 2001. Last year, No. 1 Sealy Canada, a division of Bain Capital, saw its sales advance 15.4% to C$139.7 million.
Meanwhile, the publicly held Simmons Canada saw its sales climb 9% last year to C$130.9 million. Simmons is the only major Canadian producer to build a network of independent owned and operated freestanding stores, augmented by in-store galleries. Currently, there are about 15 Simmons Mattress Galleries in operation, with more to be rolled out over the coming 18 months.
Serta of Canada remains the No. 3 Canadian bedding producer. The combined sales of its four Canadian franchisees advanced 11% last year to C$79 million. Each of the four factories — in Vancouver, Winnipeg, Montreal and Toronto — participates in joint marketing and sales activities and is part of the company's Canadian committee, which is chaired by Bob Malin, vice president of marketing for Serta Inc.
The only other bedding producer on this year's Top 25 is Bedford Furniture of Toronto, the Canadian licensee for the King Koil and Restonic labels. Bedford's sales grew a modest 4% last year reaching C$56 million.
