Adjustable bases are one of the most exciting products mattress retailers can sell—and not just because they are the only thing on the sales floor that does something besides lie there. (Just a little “motion” humor for you.)
With features like head and foot tilt and massage, power bases help solve people’s real sleep and health problems. And with add-ons like underbed lighting, USB-charging ports and speaker systems, they make life a little easier and perhaps a little more fun.
For retailers, they make sales a lot more profitable. Today’s bases typically retail from as low as $399 to $2,500 or more. Even at the low end, that’s a nice increase to your average ticket. Here are 10 ideas for increasing your adjustable sales:
- Go all in. Put an adjustable under every mattress. OK. Maybe not every mattress—it’s probably not worth it under the $99 twin special. But pair them with as many as you can. It makes it easier for retail sales associates to explain their benefits and helps consumers get a better sense of how their chosen mattress would feel on a power base.
- Support your best-sellers. If you can’t put adjustables across your entire floor, partner them with your best-selling mattresses and with models where you do most of your comfort qualifying.
- Get them moving. Place an adjustable base in the front window or near the entrance and program it to adjust continuously. It adds a dynamism to a normally static store floor and grabs shoppers’ attention.
- Get an early start. If you wait until the end of a conversation with a shopper to bring up an adjustable base, it will feel like you’re just trying to get her to spend more money instead of what you’re really trying to do: Give her a great night’s sleep.
- Ask the right questions. Certain qualifying questions can help you learn if a shopper has a medical condition or habits that make an adjustable a good choice for her. They include: Do you have any health problems? (Back pain? Acid reflux? Poor circulation? Mobility restrictions?) Do you or your sleeping partner snore? Do you spend a lot of time reading, working or watching TV in bed?
- Sell the set. Pricing mattresses and adjustables as sets enables consumers to easily compare the total costs of options they are considering. It also helps them see that the adjustable base and mattress go together as a complete sleep system. (One easy way to do this is to price all your mattresses as “mattress plus flat foundation” and “mattress plus adjustable foundation.”)
- Get up to speed. Managers: Hold regular training sessions on how to demonstrate and talk about adjustables. Your RSAs won’t sell what they don’t understand. RSAs: Spend time on your own testing out every adjustable you sell and memorizing how each remote control works. Watching you fumble around while their heads and legs bob up and down doesn’t instill confidence in shoppers.
- Show, don’t tell. This is one of the most visual products you sell. Have fun with it. Shoot a short explainer video to show how adjustables work. Post it on your website and social media feeds to entice consumers.
- Adjustables 101. Once a month host a class or information session to explain adjustable bases and all they can do for consumers. Promise beverages and treats, but no sales push. It’s all about education.
- Promote! Promote! Promote! Retailers who commit to adjustables can regularly enjoy attachment rates of 25%, 30% or even a bit more. And that’s impressive. But Sleep Savvy has talked to retailers who get their attachment rates up to as much as 70% during promotions and sales. That should be enough incentive to make adjustables the centerpiece of your next marketing campaign.