Piper Sandler Forecasts Slight Sales Improvement

In March, investment bank and financial services firm Piper Sandler reported that February 2024 “showed the strongest sales growth in two years with sales up 0.8/2.0% year-over-year on a mean/median basis.” That marked the best sales performance for the industry since February 2022.

This week, the company released its April Mattress Retailer Survey, highlighting a “slight improvement from March.” The survey, which includes more than 10 retailers representing almost 600 stores across the United States, showed “mean and median sales at -4.4% and -5.0%, respectively.” Despite the downturn, Piper Sandler notes that “April’s performance was decent considering April is seasonally one of the slowest months of the year.” The company maintains its messaging that the industry is “bouncing along the bottom” as sales appear to stabilize.

For the remainder of the second quarter through June, 57% of retailers surveyed stated they expect positive year-over-year growth, down from 75% from last month’s poll. On a mean and median basis, retailers expect sales to land in the range of down -0.6% and up +3.0%, respectively. If that holds, it will mark the best year-over-year-performance since the last quarter of 2021. Ahead of Memorial Day Weekend, traditionally one of the highest-performing sales days for mattress retailers, Piper Sandler forecasts that “retailers expect sales to be +3%/4% year over year.” If this happens, this would be the strongest Memorial Day performance, year-over-year, since 2021.

Read recent Piper Sandler forecasts for 2024: Piper Sandler’s February Retail Survey Shows Stabilization.