Piper Sandler’s November Retail Survey

Minneapolis-based investment bank and financial services firm Piper Sandler released its November Mattress Survey, which offers a snapshot of mattress retailers and sales from across the United States. The report reveals that October saw the “second worst year over year declines of 2023. On a mean/median basis, the November survey states that mattress sales had the best month since January 2023. Piper Sandler forecasts that for Q4, retailers now “expect an average decline of -3%.” According to Piper Sandler, if this comes to fruition, it will represent the best quarter of 2023.

A notable standout from the report is that retailers expect 2023 sales to be driven by high-end mattresses. According to the November report, retailers expect 38% of sales to come from the $2000 and up price point, followed by the $1000-$1999 range (30%), $500-$999 (21%) and $499 and under (12%). With retailers expecting 68% of sales to be mattresses priced $1000 and higher, this is a notable increase from the firm’s November 2021 report, when retailers anticipated 64% of sales to be in this range.

Piper Sandler’s Black Friday weekend outlook (published in November) initially suggested “flattish sales.” The company confirmed that the final numbers (in which sales were down 2.5%-1% on a year-over-year basis) substantiated the “initial checks directly following the event.” The survey also reported how retailers’ Black Friday and Cyber Monday results compared to their expectations. 38% of respondents reported that performance exceeded their expectations versus was in line with expectations (23%) or below expectations (38%). Black Friday “performed better on a year-over-year basis over Memorial Day, but Labor Day sales did the best of the three.”