What are manufacturers doing to make that task easier?
What are they doing that’s making it harder? BedTimes recently posed these and other questions to nearly a dozen furniture and specialty sleep retailers. (According to recent Better Sleep Council research, some 77% of Americans will purchase their bed from a furniture or mattress specialty store.) For the most part, they were eager to talk openly about the difficulties—and opportunities—of operating at retail today. As might be expected from such a group, among their chief concerns is competition from big-box, mass merchants, but they said growth in specialty and luxury categories was helping them to retain a competitive advantage (See story Page 24). The retailers offered ways in which manufacturers could assist them in driving the sale of what many consumers still see as a highly postponable purchase. Their wish lists include regular store visits from highly trained manufacturers’ representatives and national advertising that promotes product attributes and the value of a good night’
