I took a pre-Labor Day retail road trip to check out the mattress scene at area big box stores. You know the ones – Target, Walmart, Lowe’s, The Home Depot, Sam’s Club – to see what they may be up in the category leading into the weekend.
It was an interesting experience, and I couldn’t keep from realizing what an opportunity home furnishings and sleep stores have available to them. I often hear retail executives lamenting the struggles of competing against these big box behemoths that sell on low pricing and slim margins.
While it is true that that channel does slice into the business and can make it more challenging to entice bargain-hunting consumers to spend on higher tickets, the mass merchants in my market leave a lot to be desired in their presentation and selection of mattresses.
Four of the five sell mattresses. My local Home Depot doesn’t carry beds, and the others sell roll-pack beds. In addition to its selection of boxed beds, Sam’s has a selection of Serta mattresses that are displayed upright like books on a shelf.
The mattress displays, such that they were, were jumbled, dingy and dirty and featured a number of dented and open boxes. The upright beds in Sam’s were bending at the bottom.
A caveat is that all the retailers mentioned have a much broader selection of mattresses to choose from online than they offer in their stores.
Only a few on my list were promoting in-store sale prices; instead, most – with a few specific exceptions – were selling their wares at regular prices. Somewhat surprising given that Labor Day is one of the five keystone promotional holidays on which the bedding category is laser-focused, and the three-day weekend – a last hurrah to summer – can be a harbinger for the balance of the year.
Here’s a quick look at what I found at the five retailers:
Target — My local Target sells three brands: Casper, Lucid and its Room Essentials brand. The house brand was a 6-inch foam mattress retailing at $199 in queen, and the Casper 10-inch Element was priced at $595, queen. There were no Lucid mattresses on the shelf.
Sam’s Club —The warehouse club was one of the stores offering discounts, and it also had the largest selection offering members two different models of its Member’s Mark Hotel collection with a 12-inch foam model retailing at $399.99 and a 14-inch hybrid on sale for $549. Notable brands included a 12-inch Nectar memory foam bed at $599, and a 13-inch Dreamcloud hybrid. My local store only had the Dreamcloud in king size at $999. In addition, Sam’s was selling three different Serta mattresses: Ansley 12.75-inch Euro Top (discounted to $349 from $499); 13.5-inch Bleu Moment ($599); and Gabrianna a 15-inch bed (discounted to $549 from $699).
Lowe’s — As a home improvement store, mattresses are not top of mind for people. Perhaps an impulse buy as consumers are cruising down the aisle. However, the display that houses two different mattresses — a boxed 10-inch Serta hybrid for $648 and a 10-inch Style Selections hybrid for $398 — is unremarkable and easy to pass by.
Walmart —The giant discounter sells three mattresses in my local store. The offering starts on the low end with an 8-inch Spa Sensations by Zinus memory foam design on sale for $223 from $248 and tops out with a 10-inch gel memory foam Serta mattress for $379. Sandwiched between is a 10-inch Allswell hybrid mattress retailing at $317.
My takeaways: Our audience of retailers beat these stores hands down day in and day out on presentation and merchandising, customer service, expertise and product knowledge. Keep being you and keep servicing your customer.
Hope the Labor Day was a boom for the industry.