A new survey from Minneapolis-based investment bank and financial services firm Piper Sandler reports that for the sales period of Labor Day weekend, tickets were up year over year while transactions were down year over year. According to the company, its preliminary checks for mattress and furniture sales over Labor Day weekend suggest that mattress sales were up between 3% to 5%. The report states that “Every furniture/mattress retailer we spoke to noted that mattress sales outperformed.”
Momentum from May – which according to Piper Sandler showed the stronger year over year sales growth since February 2022 – seems to have held as “all in” the company says it would characterize Labor Day Weekend as a success. It also said, “Following 2.5 years of very negative sales trends, furniture and mattress sales continue to slowly progress toward stabilization.”
According to the company, larger retailers gained share while small- to -mid-sized retailers experienced more mixed results. Also, the premium category was the best-performing price tier, showing that the trend of high-end sleep products selling well is continuing. Interestingly, the low-end category outperformed the mid-range category. All retailers surveyed shared concern about the next two to three months due to the upcoming presidential election dominating advertising space and continued seasonal weakness.
Based on the report, Piper Sandler believes Labor Day weekend sales this year were the best since 2021.
