Serta spelled out the benefits at Convention 2024
By Janet Weyandt, YSN
Why should an appliance dealer try to squeeze a mattress display in among the dishwashers and washing machines?
According to two representatives from Serta Simmons Bedding (SSB), there is one very good reason: It pays.
SSB’s Seth Atkinson, senior manager for buying groups, and Curtis Grady, senior director, strategic retail group, spelled out the details during a product training session at Convention 2024.
Is It Worthwhile?
Atkinson started with four simple questions:
- How happy are you with your current profit?
- How happy are you with your store traffic?
- How excited are you for the future of retail in your market?
- How willing are you to work on developing a new revenue source?
Adding mattresses to an appliance store doesn’t require a lot of additional labor. In fact, mattresses fit in just fine using the existing infrastructure, he said.
It’s no surprise that mattresses are a lucrative product line, and Atkinson spelled it out for the appliance dealers who might not have investigated the details.
“The margin on our side is 50% or greater in most cases,” he said. “Consider the margin on a $1,999 product. On a refrigerator, the margin would be about 20%, or $400. On a mattress, the profit would be close to $1,000.”
Get the Whole House
Atkinson said mattress sales are a natural extension of what they’re already doing — providing products people need in their homes.
“With appliances, you’re going after the kitchen and laundry room,” he said. “You’re already making a visit to that customer’s house. Selling mattresses gives you the ability to market to the existing customer base you have.”
The demographic breakdown of mattress shoppers mirrors that of appliance shoppers pretty closely, Atkinson said. In addition, a mattress shop is affordable to set up and doesn’t require huge inventory to be successful.
There’s also less technical minutia to consider.
“Mattresses are pretty steady throughout the year,” he said. “We don’t see peaks and valleys. They come in one color and there’s less ‘it doesn’t fit.’ They have soft, round corners so there is less delivery damage and no water or gas lines to hook up.”
The Bottom Dollar
Grady, who came to SSB after running an appliance and mattress store, attested to the advantages of carrying both.
“The thing that saved our bacon many months was the mattresses,” he said.
People who are buying appliances are often doing it because they’re making improvements to their home, and mattresses are a natural extension of that thinking, he explained.
“The people who are coming into your store to buy the things you’re selling are the same people leaving your store and going down the road to buy something else,” Grady said.
Logistics and Training
Grady reassured the audience that adding a sleep shop to an appliance showroom doesn’t require a huge amount of space. SSB, for example, can create a display of eight to 10 mattresses in about 600 square feet.
“That will generate the same income as 1,500 square feet of appliances,” he said.
Another concern appliance dealers have is about the expertise involved in selling mattresses.
“If they can sell a dishwasher, they can sell a mattress,” Grady said. “It’s simple and we don’t have to be techy. Our company has the ability to help you with this, with programs and sales training to make this the easiest conversion you’ve ever had at your store.”
Atkinson spelled out the steps to successful mattress integration for the audience.
- Start with a known brand that will attract shoppers to the store.
- Put the mattress display in a visible area of the store.
- Keep it clean and uncluttered.
- Compensate the staff well, so they’re motivated to be just as skilled at mattress sales as they are at appliance sales.
- Advertise what others can’t offer. Who else in your market does both?
- Tap into your existing customer base.
Keys to Success
Carrying mattresses and appliances together gives the retailer the opportunity to advertise and bundle in a creative way that will entice shoppers into the store and add to the bottom line.
For instance, a combination appliance and mattress store can create promotions like dorm-in-a-box by bundling a mattress together with bedding and a mini fridge.
In another example, Grady said if your customer was looking at dishwashers, offer to take $400 off the dishwasher if they also buy a mattress.
The overlap between a dishwasher shopper and mattress shopper is important to know, Atkinson said. Decisions about kitchen appliances are typically made by a female who hasn’t shopped for a new dishwasher in eight to 12 years. She’s typically 25-55 years old, he said, dissatisfied with her current dishwasher and attracted by a low price. She’s done some research online and will often upgrade two to three times in price if someone tells her about new features.
That’s exactly how you’d describe the average mattress shopper, he said, which means if your sales staff understands how to sell dishwashers, they’ll be just as successful with mattresses.
And offering mattresses along with appliances gives retailers an edge.
“It gives you the ability to offer what other people can’t,” Atkinson said. “A mattress store can’t sell dorm-in-a-box. Home Depot can’t. You bundle those things together … it gives you the opportunity to really stand out in your market. The really neat thing about mattresses is people don’t browse for a mattress. They’re there to buy.”
YSN publisher AVB BrandSource is the nation’s largest merchandising and marketing co-op for independent appliance, mattress, furniture and CE dealers.
