Welcome to the 2024 winter Las Vegas Market, where it looks to be shaping up to be a fairly interesting event for mattresses and sleep products. From the looks of Furniture Today’s listing of new products and my inboxes, this market promises to deliver some promising new wares.
Closing out 2023 seems to have left manufacturers and suppliers leaping into 2024 armed with some fresh ideas to help generate sales for their retail partners. Those new products are destined for retail floors soon, many as quickly to help with Presidents Day sales next month.
While you can read all about the new products at the market in our pages and online under our Live From Market tab (as well as in person if you’re onsite), I’ll share with you some insights after culling through information on new things waiting to be discovered on the World Market Center campus.
Three key trends pop up that, bear in mind, are not necessarily brand-spanking new, but more a maturation or evolution of things we’ve seen over the past 18 months or so. Here are my three “T’s” to keep an eye out for:
1 Technology Expansion
No, sleep technology is not a new category; it’s been chugging along for some time with niche players coming to market with ways for consumers to track their sleep, number of exits from bed during the night, heart rate variable, breath rate and all sorts of things.
While if you dig deep enough, it almost becomes a little creepy to wonder where all that information goes, on the surface, the information gleaned through these technological advances can be insightful in building better sleep habits for better overall wellness.
Showrooms throughout the bedding floors will be sharing the latest technological advances, and time will tell as to how consumers respond to the new bells and whistles.
2 The Tempur Effect
We flipped the calendar to 2024, the anticipated closing year for Tempur Sealy International’s acquisition of Mattress Firm. The $4 billion deal, which had been a topic of speculation since before I took this seat in December 2020 and was announced in May last year, has been one of the most talked about acquisitions the industry has ever seen.
The impact on the industry — especially it seems this market — is for other mattress brands and suppliers to dig deeper into product development than in the past to develop mattresses that offer retailers other than Mattress Firm viable solutions to the TSI brands.
It’s not secret that some TSI retailers are looking for alternative lines ahead of the deal, nor is it a secret that manufacturers are welcoming those retailers with open arms and a lot of product. This market is proof of that. Companies are armed with expansive introductions, more than we have seen in some time.
3 Traffic Drivers
Retailers of late have been bemoaning the lack of door swings. Consumers, while they have the money to spend, are opting to spend elsewhere. There hasn’t been a great reason for them to come back to mattress (or furniture) stores just yet. The great travel boom is still underway.
Mattress makers are prepped with a wide selection of goods that are designed to give retailers smart advertising talking points to help get the word out that a good night’s sleep can impact one’s overall well-being and to offer promotions that help drive business.
That’s my take. I’m sure there will be more than a few surprises as well. There always are.
Happy Market.
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