Bedding Innovations Create Interest and Traffic at High Point Market

Furniture World News Desk on 10/31/2017

Bedding retailers and exhibitors are reporting a positive High Point Market for fall, and officials from International Market Center said the interest of key bedding anchors continues to grow.

“Last market, we added Ergomotion; Mottosleep moved into an expanded space in IHFC and Bedgear expanded in Plaza Suites,” said Scott Eckman, president of furniture and home décor leasing. “This Market, Mottosleep expanded again and Protect-a-Bed took on a large showroom for the first time. Companies like Corsicana, Solstice Sleep and Enso Sleep Systems continue to do well at Market, and other key bedding companies attended this week, looking at space to open showrooms prior to April Market. Both retailers and exhibitors find great innovation and value options in the bedding category at High Point Market.”

Citing innovative product introductions and access to key suppliers, retailers said they come to High Point to buy bedding and explore numerous sources for their stores.

“We discussed as a team how we wished more bedding vendors showed at High Point Market,” said Josh Adams, president of Top 100 retailer Hudson’s Furniture in Sanford, Fla. “We shopped this category, but would like to see more of the major vendors showing here. We would definitely shop them if they did show.”

Stuart Perlmutter, president of Harold’s Furniture in Lebanon, Penn., agreed. “High Point is a bedding Market, at least for some retailers like myself,” Perlmutter said. “You have tens of thousands of retailers attending this Market and a large portion, including myself, sell mattresses and do our buying here at High Point Market. I think more mattress vendors should have a presence at this Market and they all need to be centrally located in a very visible location that’s easy to get to like the Main Street properties.” 

Perlmutter said he was visiting numerous bedding showrooms at High Point Market. “I’ve shopped three different mattress vendors this Market and I’m heading to Solstice in NFM right now,” Perlmutter said. “I did see mattress introductions; one of the most interesting was the bed in the box with wheels on it and a handle, so your customer can just roll it out of your store. Another mattress company had a cool gel, and I put my hand on it and it really was cold, that was exciting. Bedding is alive in High Point; this is where I and many other retailers shop it anyway.”

Steve Rotman, owner of Rotman's Furniture, Worcester, Mass., a Beyond top 100 retailer, was impressed with Ergo Motion’s motion bedding product.
“Ergo Motion is an outstanding company with innovative product,” Rotman said. “Their new Motion Bedroom could be the number one reason that bedrooms show substantial growth over the next five years. By partnering with Knickerbocker they have simplified the process, created multiple shipping points, lowered cost, and created fast shipping and service, that will allow many retailers to showcase motion.

“I spent time at Kings Down and Shifman, excellent presentation,” Rotman said. “In both cases principals were there and were able to give us a full presentation. High Point offers the opportunity to visit new possible sources.”

Several bedding exhibitors reported a strong fall market and said they brought introductions designed to help their retail customers build excitement on the floor.

“This has been a very successful and exciting Market and we’ve seen more traffic than I can remember seeing,” said Paris Fealy, vice president of sales, Ergo Motion (IHFC M-636). “I think the launch of our new motion bedroom furniture brought in a great deal of interest from retailers who came in to see it, and the cross traffic has been very strong. We did a pre-launch in Las Vegas, but this was our true launch, putting the product out there.
“We have seen loads of strong retailers, furniture store buyers, top 100, independents, lots of regional retailers but we’ve seen them from all over the country, and some of them big major players,” Fealy continued. “The Market feels like it’s revitalized from a year or so ago. There is more excitement now, maybe an indicator of the economy, but the traffic has been excellent and I think the buyers are enthusiastic. One other thing I want to point out — a lot of time you get buyers who are just browsing, but we’ve had actual buyers buying, writing orders and saying ‘I want this in my store, when can I have it,’ so that’s been very exciting. It’s been a very successful Market.”

Mark Akerman, president of Enso Sleep at 101 N. Hamilton said that the company brought a collection introduction that became one of fall market’s strongest placements. “We introduced the new Advantage Collection which was some value driven price points and has been very well received and helped a lot of our midsized independents,” Akerman said. “We introduced a whole new category if you will called the motion bed and that provides the function of an adjustable, but yet it gives the ability to place the unit directly on top of the slats or platform bed and it turns any flat-bed into a motion bed. And that has been the highlight of our entire Market.

“We have had so many dealers from small independents to some of the largest players in the country that have picked that up this Market,” Akerman said. “People say that bedding is not introduced in High Point; I disagree, it’s a big opportunity for Enzo. It lets us stand out a little more and we take advantage of it. High Point is a great place to shop for bedding; we get a lot of traffic during Market. Retailers are sometimes surprised to see a bedding offering, and I think retailers need to be reminded more to keep High Point top of mind when they are shopping the bedding category.”
Bedding exhibitors also brought value-based introductions to fall High Point Market. Additionally, representatives noted that their company goals include supporting their customers with key marketing messages, a strategy that helped MotoSleep expand its buyer base.

“We’re picking up new customers this Market,” said David Hicks, vice president of sales, MotoSleep (IHFC M-608). “One of the things we try to do is offer a great value with our products that consumers understand, and we try to make the buyer’s job easier by giving them a product that’s easy to sell at retail.

“We always have new product introductions and this market was not an exception,” Hicks said. “We’ve had a very positive response to our new designs this Market and we’re always trying to improve our products. Everything we do is container direct so we deal with large retailers, top 100 retailers. Some we see here in High Point and in Las Vegas and some we only see here at High Point Market.”

At Protect-A-Bed (IHFC M-633), Jeff Faye, manager of marketing, communications and PR, said that the company’s first market back in High Point “has been fantastic.” According to Faye, Protect-A-Bed did not introduce new product, but did introduce a new campaign called Grow the Retail Basket that was the key focus for fall market.

“Having a great quality space and being able to set up our showroom for easy walk-throughs helps us show the commitment we have to the industry,” Faye said. “We’re seeing a mix of buyers, but definitely a higher east coast penetration. We’ve seen a lot of retailers, but of course we always want to see more. We’ve had great reception to our showroom; everyone loves the amount of space we have, and the flow is nice.”

Corsicana CEO Chris Baker said the company had a successful fall market.  “We’ve had a great Market here in High Point,” Baker said. “We’ve seen a lot of customers, it’s been very productive and we are absolutely committed to remain in High Point for the long term.”