The chief executive officer of Bedgear discusses the importance of creating great in-store experiences, with ‘walls that talk,’ and pillows that build excitement.
Transcript
Eugene Alletto
Well, she puts the light there. It’s almost like we’re two insects.
Dave Perry
We’re drawn to the light.
Eugene Alletto
Dave Perry
Hold on a second.
Dave Perry
Hey, it’s Dave Perry. Welcome to “Take 5 With Dave.” We’re in the Bedgear showroom with Eugene Alletto. Eugene, spectacular showroom. We’ll get to that in a moment. Is retail dead?
Eugene Alletto
You know, Dave, boring retail is dead.
Dave Perry
Love that. And what you do at these markets, which is so neat, is you have spectacular displays. So tell us some of the elements of retail theater, and I love that concept.
Eugene Alletto
Yeah. So, you know, when you think about a theater and going to see a movie, we all think it’s about just the movie. But isn’t it about that experience? It’s the popcorn, supersized drinks, the Jolly Ranchers, and so forth. But the reality is, it’s not just about the product. It’s the way it’s going to be experienced at retail. So our retailers, we push really, really hard on them to recognize that the square footage that they’re paying for is very expensive. But all this amazing wall space you see around here is free for you to do something special.
Dave Perry
Well, let’s look at this wall space. Bright colors, great display. This kind of space is available in every store.
Eugene Alletto
It is so every store that we go into, not only do you have four walls, but a lot of our retailers have many other walls throughout the entire experience that the customers are walking through. It’s a simple message. You saturate the walls with color and just a very basic message. It doesn’t cost a lot of money, but it creates a huge impact.
Dave Perry
Well, you’ve got one of the walls here. It says, Hi, I’m a Hybrid. So what’s the kind of thought behind that? A talking wall.
Eugene Alletto
Yeah. So all walls should talk because, as we know, we sit in a room and only if the walls could talk. The talk was always something that I learned when I was younger.
Dave Perry
Yep, I love that.
Eugene Alletto
So a hybrid is something that people speak to as if it’s like a car. But in our industry, this hybrid of amazing foam and spring is coming together. So why not say, Hi, I’m a Hybrid and explain to the customer so that I don’t, as a salesperson, have to do the explanation? A wall can do the talking for you.
Dave Perry
Yeah, well, you’ve also got a clever wall that says let’s talk sheet.
Eugene Alletto
You have to engage the consumer. If I’m the salesperson on the floor, I can’t say let’s talk sheet because it may come out the wrong way. But if I spell it out correctly, I can take advantage of double entendres that make people go. Huh? What do they mean by that? And it engages people to go actually over to the space.
Dave Perry
I also love the pillow wall. Tell me about that.
Eugene Alletto
So we said, why don’t we put the pillow front and center right within the mattress department so that the customers start to see that the pillows are part of the overall experience?
Dave Perry
I love that, you know, pillows themselves can be very dramatic retail elements. Stay tuned.
Eugene Alletto
Oh, what was that, Dave? Body pillows?
Dave Perry
And this is an example. The pillow itself really can be a dramatic element. You can sleep in almost any position with ease. And what’s the concept behind this, Eugene?
Eugene Alletto
These are great. They’re amazing when it comes to retail theater because it allows the customer to get in bed and get into their sleep position. And these are multi-faceted. You can get on your back, your side, or your stomach, and it just makes for a great talking piece.
Dave Perry
Love that. Hey, this is a theater I’d like to visit. Boom.
