DORAVILLE, Ga. – Six months after its emergence from bankruptcy, Serta Simmons Bedding’s management team is looking forward and not back as they work to rebuild the company’s footing within the sleep retail community.
“Overall, we’re pleased with the progress that we have made,” said Mark Genender, interim chief executive officer and chairman, of the last six months. “During that time, we have increased product development, created a go-to market strategy, and opened our new factory.”
While the company declined to share sales figures or specific details about percentage gains coming out of the bankruptcy, Genender said Serta Simmons’ sales performance has been trending upward since the summer. “Currently, every month has gotten better, and the second half outperformed the first half,” he said. “We’re seeing sequential improvement.”
Acknowledging missteps over the last few years in its push to build its online and direct-to-consumer push, the Serta Simmons team is focused on rebuilding retail relationships.
As part of its transformation, the company is coming to the Winter Las Vegas Market armed with what could be its largest product launch in some time. The company is rolling out at product strategy that takes the expands the Serta and Beautyrest brands to cover a range of prices from the promotional up to the luxury segment.
In total, Serta Simmons Bedding will showcase 56 new mattresses across seven new product lines in its Las Vegas Market showroom from the Beautyrest family of products and the Serta lineup, including an expansion of the iComfort franchise.
According to Tim Oakhill, chief marketing officer, the product launch sets distinct lines between the different brands and between the sub-brands of Serta and Beautyrest.
“We’ve separated the lines so that each has its own swim lane,” he said, adding that the merchandising strategy is designed so that all mattresses across all price spectrums remain linked to its “core brand.”
At the upper end, the company’s keystone Beautyrest Black will add 15 new mattresses designed to retail from $1,999 to $4,999 in queen in a four-series lineup that includes signature Beautyrest components and step-up stories to help RSAs and consumers differentiate between the different series in the new lineup.
On the promotional side, the company has designed Beautyrest Sleep, a collection of eight mattresses to retail from $399 to $799. Harmony and Harmony Lux, two other Beautyrest collections that did not get updates this market, are priced to retail between the new Beautyrest Black and Beautyrest Sleep offerings. The company said the addition of the lower end product and expanding the high-end collection gives retailers a way to span a broader price range and target a wider berth of consumer budgets.
On the Serta side of the business, the company is showcasing more than 30 mattresses under the iComfort Pro lineup, a latex expansion to the brand; Perfect Sleeper Pro; iComfort, Perfect Sleeper; and Serta Classic. From the promotional end to the high-end, the mattresses are price to retail from $399 at Serta Classic up to $4,699 for an all-latex iComfort Pro.
Throughout the product line Serta offers five-zone and three-zone support depending on price level. The covers of the mattresses have subtle differences across the zoning to give RSAs easy selling strategies.
The breadth of the product launch goes to the company’s push to reengage with its core retail customers.
Genender credits the company’s team – a mix of long-time employees and a number of executives who returned to the company last year, as the company readied its emergence from bankruptcy. Industry facing executives include Dominick Azevedo who returned as chief sales officer; Rob Burch who came back as chief operations officer; and Oakhill who returned to lead marketing. The balance of the management team include Lisa Wyn, interim chief financial officer; Kristen McGuffey, chief legal officer; and Esther Ni, chief human resources officer.
The key to the company’s turnaround is its people, Genender said.
Late last year, the company opened a 500,000-square-foot factory in Janesville, Wis., the consolidation of two factories totaling 490,000 square feet in the state. The new factory will make both Serta and Beautyrest brands.
“There are a lot of people who have been here for a long time,” Genender said, adding that the newly opened factory in Wisconsin has 20 employees that have logged more than 25 years with the company. “Our people are dedicated to the success of the company. We have had a bit of a rough run, but everyone here wants to win.”
The company now operates 18 factories, and Genender said the manufacturing footprint is set with no other consolidation planned. The manufacturing network is set, he said.
“We’re pleased with the product, and the feedback from our retailers is that they are impressed with where we’re going,” Genender said. “We are being responsive and listening to what they want, and we’ve positioned the company to turn it around. Now, it’s all about execution.
Looking ahead, the company’s executive team is optimistic that it will continue to trend toward improvement, and Las Vegas Market will play a pivotal role in righting Serta Simmons.
“Six months from now, we’re optimistic that the product will be performing on retail floors; that’s one step in the right direction to regaining our market leadership,” Azevedo said. “We have momentum, and Market will tell us the story.”
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