BY JULIE A. PALM Instagram should be a part of your social media strategy. Here’s how to make it an effective tool for your store or e-commerce site. Created as an easy way for friends to share photos, Instagram has become one of the “big five” social media apps, along with Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Pinterest, and […]
High Point Market: Shifman Adds Two Mattress Collections
News release written by Shifman Mattress Co. and published, unedited, by Sleep Savvy Newark, NJ, March 27, 2017 — Shifman Mattress Company, a leading designer and manufacturer of luxury, handmade, two-sided mattresses for over 124 years, will unveil two additional product lines at the upcoming High Point Furniture Market. For the first time ever, Shifman […]
Nest Bedding Finds Success with a ‘Brick or Click’ Approach
BY GARY JAMES Photography by Jack Hutch Mattress industry veteran Joe Alexander is conquering the online bedding world with an Albany, California-based retail chain, Nest Bedding, that blends physical stores with internet sales. Joe Alexander always has marched to the beat of his own drummer. While other friends growing up in his neighborhood set up […]
Generation Z Enters the Workforce with Ambition
Gen Z is about to hit the workforce. Here’s the scoop on a generation that blends old-school values with the digital world: Look out, retailers: Here comes Generation Z, born between 1995 and 2009, and about to enter the workplace with a bang. According to a survey by Monster.com, an employment website based in Weston, […]
Risk of SIDS Continues in Unsafe Environments
A new study finds that caregivers still are putting babies to sleep in unsafe environments While many parents know the “Back to Sleep” tagline, a recent study finds that parents still are putting their babies to sleep in ways that raise the risk of sudden infant death syndrome. The study, published in the Aug. 15 […]
Better Bed Quizzz
The BSC launches a digital tool during Better Sleep Month to help consumers enter the mattress-buying process The Better Sleep Council, the consumer-education arm of the International Sleep Products Association, is introducing a “decision tree” application to help guide consumers through the initial steps of mattress shopping. The launch is in conjunction with its annual […]
Ending the Bedtime Battleground
Recommended by a pediatric sleep expert, a sleep pass can turn your bedtime battleground with your children into a peaceful experience. BY TERRY CRALLE Editor’s note: Savvy mattress retailers want to do everything they can to help their customers sleep better, including offering them sound advice and tips. Feel free to share this great guidance […]
The High Cost of Better Sleep
NEWS RELEASE Contact: Mary Helen Rogers 571-482-5436 mhrogers@sleepproducts.org Kristen J. Gough 914-837-8912 kgough@marcusthomasllc.com THE HIGH COST OF POOR SLEEP New Better Sleep Council Research Shows Economic Cost of Sleep Loss in the Billions ALEXANDRIA, Virginia – March 3, 2016 – American adults spend more than $5 billion annually trying to compensate for poor sleep, according […]
Meet The Millennials
All grown up, ready to tackle the world and 80 million strong, this generation of digital natives is revolutionizing America’s retail landscape. How can you adapt your sales strategies to fit generation Y’s values and lifestyles? BY JULIE A. PALM With their financial futures thrown off course by the Great Recession and their lives shaped […]
Get in the know on the latest sleep research
Kids: For a good night’s sleep, turn off, tune out Study finds 20% of teens awake up at night to check social media More than one in five teenagers say they “almost always” wake up during the night to look at or post messages on social media, according in some of the latest sleep research from […]
US-Mattress Makes Mattress Shopping Easy
An effortless experience—whether online or in-person—is the goal for this omni-channel retailer BY JULIE A. PALM PHOTOGRAPHY PROVIDED BY US-MATTRESS US-Mattress, one of the earliest and one of the most successful online sellers of mattresses, is expanding its brick-and-mortar presence, recently adding two new stores—for a total of five in its headquarters state of Michigan—and […]
Fleetzen survey says same-day delivery can make the sale
Retailers of large items—everything from big-screen TVs and barbecue grills to sporting equipment and furniture—are losing sales if they don’t offer same-day delivery, according to a new survey from Seattle-based Fleetzen. Fleetzen, it should be noted, has a vested interest in the subject: Instead of moving people, the Uberlike startup, along with Los Angeles-based Buddytruk, […]
New from SleepSells.com
Check out recent additions to SleepSells.com, an information hub that connects retail sales associates with the Simmons brand, part of Atlanta-based Serta Simmons Bedding LLC. “Elephant in the showroom”: This campaign invites RSAs to submit their trickiest “sticky situation” with consumers. (Retail sales associates can submit their stories directly to submissions@SleepSells.com. “Sell yourself, sell the […]
Midwestern values thrive at Mattress Factory
Retailer’s ‘Locally owned, locally made’ message in Grand Forks, North Dakota, resonates with customers, community BY JULIE A. PALM PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOHN BROSE Matress Factory in Grand Forks, North Dakota, counts nine mattress-selling competitors—including big boxes, sleep shops and national furniture chains—within just a mile or two of his store. Arnold never forgets about those […]
An education in sleep
Better Sleep Council spokeswoman Terry Cralle offers these back-to-school suggestions for an A+ year Editor’s note: Savvy mattress retailers want to do everything they can to help their customers sleep better, including offering them sound advice and tips. Feel free to share this great guidance from Better Sleep Council spokeswoman Terry Cralle with your shoppers (with […]
Take our Twitter video tour of Las Vegas Market
BY BARBARA T. NELLES It was a lazy Las Vegas Market Aug. 1-6–with light traffic in bedding halls and fewer product launches among bedding exhibitors than at past summer shows. I saw a handful of new mattress collections, some product redesigns and new technologies, as well as quite a few pillows. But, quiet shows make it a lot easier for […]
Connecticut debuts nation’s first statewide mattress-recycling program
Plan requires those who produce, sell or renovate mattresses to collect a recycling fee on each mattress and box springs sold On May 1, Connecticut’s Mattress Stewardship Plan took effect, making it the first state in the nation to launch a statewide recycling program for used mattresses and box springs. The program is administered by […]
Hollywood Bed hosts congresswoman
U.S. Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard paid a visit to the Commerce, California, headquarters of Hollywood Bed Frame Co., which in the previous 12 months has doubled the size of its workforce. The congresswoman toured the bed-frame, base and hardware supplier’s plant and learned more about the company’s recent growth from Hollywood Bed Chief Executive Officer Larry […]
Craig’s Beds wins hearts in the Big Apple
Good listening, straight talk and a personal touch lead independent sleep shop to top New York City ranking BY BETH ENGLISH PHOTOGRAPHY BY ARTISAN IMAGE INC. As a New York City native, Craig Fruchtman understands the daily grind. Every morning, he leaves home and hops on the subway. His route takes him through Times Square […]
BedMart goes its own way
For this Portland, Oregon-based chain, an ambitious growth strategy, selection and ‘Lexus-level’ customer service steer its success BY JULIE A. PALM PHOTOGRAPHY BY KIMBERLI RANSOM When the Great Recession hit in 2008 and other retailers shuttered stores, BedMart Mattress Superstores President Steven Stone opened new locations. While owners of other mattress chains are selling their enterprises […]
Retail Road Trip: Now that’s a good idea!
We look back at Retail Road Trips to cull some of the best strategies from the past year—and challenge you to take them to the next level BY JULIE A. PALM In every issue, Sleep Savvy takes our readers along on a Retail Road Trip to visit successful mattress retailers across the United States and […]
North Carolina honors mattress maker Kingsdown
Local dignitaries, community leaders and employees of Kingsdown Inc. gathered Friday at the company’s Oakwood plant in Mebane, North Carolina, to celebrate 110 years in the mattress-manufacturing business. “Kingsdown remains the only home-grown, home-bred industry we have left,” said Mebane Mayor Glendel Stephenson, who, along with North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory, proclaimed Sept. 12, 2014, […]
Las Vegas Market: Mattress vendors lower opening price points, emphasize feature-filled accessories
BY BARBARA T. NELLES While the summer Las Vegas Market July 27-31 was one of the slowest in terms of retailer traffic that editors of Sleep Savvy can recall, we saw more product introductions than at previous mid-year markets. King Koil, Sealy, Blu Sleep, Englander and others launched new collections, while Boyd, Glideaway, Paramount, Serta, […]
McRoskey Mattress Co. thrives on hand-crafted heritage
As maker and retailer, this venerable San Francisco-based mattress business builds its service from the springs up BY JULIE A. PALM PHOTOGRAPHY BY JACK HUTCH At McRoskey Mattress Co., being a mattress manufacturer makes a difference at retail. And closing the sale always includes this question: “May we make your mattress?” A 115-year history of […]
Some of the hottest mattress and sleep product trends at Las Vegas Market were under the bed
Last week, the editors of Sleep Savvy and BedTimes magazines traveled to the summer Las Vegas Market. Outside, temperatures rose to convection-oven levels, but, inside—at a relatively slow show—we saw some cool new products and technologies in mattress showrooms. Look for our Las Vegas Market wrap-up report in the September issues of both publications. But, in the meantime, check […]
Retail Road Trip: Mattress Gallery in Lafayette, LA
F. Mark Hubbard makes mattress buying fun Like singer Pharrell Williams, the owner of Mattress Gallery in Lafayette, Louisiana, is a happy guy, and his ‘cruise director’ approach to bedding is downright contagious—business has more than tripled in the past five years BY DOROTHY WHITCOMB PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARK HUBBARD There are people who would giggle […]