Retail Observer

RETAILOBSERVER.COM NOVEMBER 2015 26 W ith the shift in retail channel distribution over the last decade, it's no longer enough to simply offer your customers a selection of products. Customers have become used to, and expect, shopping experiences that are unique and extraordinary. This shift is true no matter whether you are an appliance, furniture, home, or mattress store – customers are spending their money in the stores that rise above the pack, and the ho-hum retailers are being left behind in the dust. Recognizing this trend in the world of mattresses, in 2014, Serta ® created the Retail Concepts Group – a department devoted solely to the creation and implementation of unique retail experiences that help drive traffic and sales to its dealers. While the official formation of this department took place less than twelve months ago, its history dates back to the late 1990s when Serta first realized the potential to grow its business by growing its retailers' businesses. It was at that time when Serta launched its America's Mattress ® program to help bedding specialist retailers grow their local market share through initial and on-going financial and consultative support. What began with just a handful of stores scattered across the country has now grown to over 400 locations, independently owned and operated by 175+ owners, and the eighth largest bedding retailer in the United States (Furniture|Today - September 7, 2015). While the majority of mattresses are sold in bedding specialty stores, like America's Mattress, over a third of them are sold in furniture and appliance stores. Desiring to offer the same support and opportunity to these local stores that dot the countryside, the America's Mattress program expanded in 2013 to include a "store-within-a-store" gallery model. The America's Mattress Galleries have seen tremendous growth over the last year-and-a-half, accounting for over a third of the network locations in that short amount of time. The America's Mattress Gallery owners have been excited to be able to offer an additional product category (mattresses) to their customers – especially a category with gross margins that are more than double what many other categories offer. Along with the reorganization of the department to become the Retail Concepts Group, 2014 also saw the launch of the first The Mattress Shoppe™ concept – a program targeted specifically for the largest furniture stores in the top 50 U.S. markets. The Mattress Shoppe creates a "specialty bedding store" within the larger furniture store and uses parallel marketing to co-brand the Mattress Shoppe area with the furniture store brand (e.g. The Mattress Shoppe @ XYZ Furniture). This marketing strategy appeals both to the people that want to shop for a mattress at a furniture store (XYZ Furniture) and to the people that want to shop at a specialty store (The Mattress Shoppe). In the initial test of the program, a furniture retailer that already had 20% of the retail mattress market share grew their mattress business by over 25% with this strategy! The latest project by Serta's Retail Concepts Group is currently in the final stages of testing and will be unveiled to the public in early 2016 – the Serta Connection™. Based on consumer research related to the mattress shopping experience, the Serta Connection incorporates a proprietary "Comfortpoint™" Discovery System Theater that allows the customer to test multiple comfort options on a single mattress while also qualifying for sleep enhancement upgrades. Instead of relying on a sales person to lead them to a mattress they (the RSA) thinks is right, the customer is in control of the process, eliminating the confusion often associated with purchasing a mattress. The Serta Connection will soon be available for a variety of retail formats, including furniture, consumer electronics, and appliance stores. Regardless of your retail format or market, your customers are looking for a comfortable, friendly, easy-to-understand shopping experience when they want to buy a new mattress. If you are struggling to find your mattress identity in a market full of bedding retailers, or if you just want to increase your current market share with a turn-key program, Serta's Retail Concepts Group has a program that is right for you! M A N U F A C T U R E R [ N O T E S ] SERTA ® OFFERS A VARIETY OF EXPERIENCES FOR MATTRESS RETAILERS RO

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