Retail Observer

RETAILOBSERVER.COM SEPTEMBER 2017 50 A lmost everyone today is familiar with the bed-in-a-box concept that took off with millennials and city dwellers from brands like Casper, Tuft & Needle and Leesa. And, in the beginning, most sleep shops and mattress retailers didn't worry too much as it because the notion of buying something you've never laid on seemed a bit of a lark. But over the course of the last few years, we've seen this portion of the mattress industry grow to around $1.2 billion in sales. And now almost every vendor has a bed-in-the-box available. In my role with MEGA, I support mattress retailers and help them look for ways to grow locally. In my dealings with retailers across the country, the questions that I'm most asked on this subject are these: "Is the bed-in-a-box legit?" and "How do I compete against it?" My opinion is - yes, this concept is legit. Not only do we see that these products are about 10% of the total mattress industry sales today; we also see the interest in selling partnerships between e-commerce sites like Target.com, Amazon, Overstock, Jet.com, and the bed-in-a-box manufacturers. With these sorts of partnerships popping up, I see this niche in our industry sticking around for a while. So, then how can brick-and-mortar stores compete? Well, let's look at this from two positions. First, today, these sales equate to just 10% of an $11 billion industry. I wouldn't shift my focus from traditional customers and how to drive those shoppers into your store. We know mattresses are considered a major investment but it only takes 72 hours before someone decides on exactly what they want. These shoppers are researching brands online, coming into stores to lie on the beds, maybe trying out an adjustable base and then shopping around for the best deal. The point is, don't neglect 90% of your sales volume worrying about that small number of bed-in-a-box shoppers. But, do consider how you can get a portion of these sales. Pick a bed-in-a-box that you feel confident in the quality and price points, and create an advertising strategy targeted mostly at millennials. And yes, this advertising should be largely digital to reach consumers where they are—on social media, for example. By creating a specific strategy, you can pick up incremental sales. And to effectively run this strategy, you need a website with a fully enabled, secure shopping cart set up and a delivery mechanism. For MEGA retailers, we recently announced our exclusive partnership with Dr. Greene's Ideal Mattress, which was created by an orthopedic surgeon Dr. Craig Greene and two bedding retailers Ty Hingle and Lee Burns. This product was launched in 2017 to compete head-to-head with the big names in the space without sacrificing quality and a great night's sleep. With this partnership, MEGA members can floor or stock a few Dr. Greene's Ideal Mattress boxes in the store and sell directly, or sell online through their own website. And because the product was created with the help of independent retailers, the program even offers a sales percentage back to a retailer when an online sale is made in their territory from the Dr. Greene's website. So my advice to mattress retailers is to not be afraid of what's happening with bed-in-a-box. You can easily compete for some of these sales, but keep your focus on the bigger picture in order to grow your share with your more traditional shoppers. SHOULD RETAILERS BE WARY OF BED-IN-A-BOX COMPETITION? Chad Fischer Furniture Trends RO Chad Fischer, Bedding General Manager MEGA Group USA RO

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