Consumers responding to a Furniture/Today survey, fielded with readers of Apartment Therapy, actually put low prices far down on the list of features they are seeking in a new mattress. Just 10% of consumers said “the lowest price” is the most important feature to them when buying a mattress for themselves or their spouse/partner.
According to research done by Furniture/Today, 61% of consumers said that getting the “best value for the price” is important to them when buying a new bed. The other two are better sleep and comfort.
It is up to bedding retailers to define the value in their sleep sets, making the case that the level of quality and the reasonableness of the price make the beds a compelling purchase.
Further, when manufacturers instill value in their offerings to retailers, innovation is key and can provide a missing link between value and price.
Enter the Cozy Mattress® line of cutting edge products from Axess Direct, Inc., a Thomasville based furniture component supplier for sleeper sofas. This line of products features an 8.5” innerspring mattress that fits inside of a sleeper sofa, due to its Z-Spring® Technology.
Most manufacturers have historically been reluctant to adopt an innovation like this due to the downward pressure on pricing for furniture in general. Thus, in the sleeper sofa category, the consumer has been ill-served and had to put their guests or children on a very uncomfortable “Bar in the Back” sleeper sofa with a 4.5” mattress.
However, when it comes to sleeper sofas, many manufacturers are jumping on board due to consumers’ increasing demands on value and comfort in the sleep category.
Just 23% of the furniture stores say they always promote the lowest price on their sales floors, and just 8% of the bedding specialists say that. And that is a good thing, because consumers are far more interested in things like better sleep and comfort than they are in price issues.
Perhaps the time has come for an innovation like the Cozy Mattress®. As comfort trumps price when it comes to comfortable mattress, the consumers have definitely spoken and initiated a trend that is sure to revolutionize the sleeper sofa category.
Excerpts from “Lowest price important to only 10% of mattress buyers”
David Perry — Furniture Today, March 31, 2015