Tempurpedic

Maybe it’s a reflection of the current state of the economy today, even Tempur-Pedic mattress sales are sagging….

According to a report from Forbes, the financial magazine which was able to get in touch with the luxury mattress company, this has been rather expected:

Although the first quarter isn’t quite over, sales thus far have been less than stellar due to a downturn in consumer spending. The company now expects high single-digit percentage decrease in sales for the quarter as compared to the year prior. Tempur-Pedic also expects its earnings per share price for the quarter to be about half that of the same quarter of 2007, which came in at 35 cents per share. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial had expected 44 cents per share. The company will announce its first-quarter results in April.

Selling mattresses seems like a routinary job and I never thought someone can make an interesting story out of this. Errine Dobson, a writer from Manhattan, comes up with this short piece on a day in the life of a mattress salesman.

I’ll take excerpts from her entry:

Craig McAndrews knows the business of mattress selling like the back of his hand, having been involved in it for more than fifteen years. He provides tips that will help every mattress retailer serve their customers more satisfactorily and thereby improving the “image”, via Furniture Today:

He noted that a car dealer in New Jersey has boosted business by giving consumers yellow “just looking” tags that they wear when they are browsing the lot and don’t want to be interrupted by salespeople. They take off the tags when they are ready to do business.

Furniture Today is predicting a decline in sales of mattresses for 2008 but foresees something good in terms of bedding shipments.

The forecast, compiled with input from virtually every major U.S. bedding producer, envisions a difficult year for the industry, with producers and retailers alike struggling to eek out gains. It calls for a decline in units of 0.6%, with dollars growing by only 2.8%. That dollar growth would be the weakest since the recession year of 2001, when the dollar value of bedding shipments declined by 0.3%, according to ISPA.

The International Sleep Products Association Bedding Barometer for the month of June 2007 indicated that mattress sales has been stable and steady in the last six months. In comparison to last year’s sales record between January to June, the profit margin for this year was relatively higher.

The trade group reported a 0.9% increase in units through June, and a 3.5% increase in dollars, based on its sampling of 19 companies. In the first half, innerspring units were flat, while specialty sleep units posted a 9.4% gain. The dollar value of innerspring mattress shipments increased 1%, compared to a 15.9% dollar increase for the specialty mattress category.

This is probably great news for those connected to the mattress industry. Research from SBI Reports, a marketing arm that taps and checks trending in many industries and consumer goods establishments, indicate that the market value of mattresses should increase into a 10-billion dollar industry by 2011 in the US alone.

From 2002 to 2006, the value of mattress shipments increased 11% annually as a result of fairly substantial increases after 2003. Imports grew at an 18% CAGR, slightly faster than exports (14%). For the projected period, 2007 through 2011, SBI forecasts strong growth of exports, from $246 million in 2007 to $438 million in 2011 (a 16% CAGR), as U.S. companies target new markets, particularly in Asia. Imports are expected to grow at a slightly lower CAGR, 12% over the next five years, while shipments, the largest segment of the mattress market, will post a 10% CAGR.

Sealy, as reported by Forbes Magazine, has not been doing very well at the beginning of the year, and its earnings has continued to dip in the third quarter.

After Thursday’s closing bell, the mattress company released disappointing third-quarter earnings. While the Street consensus estimated earnings per share of 32 cents, Sealy reported EPS of only 22 cents per share. The mattress company earned $21.5 million in the quarter ended Aug. 26, down $7.9 million from the comparable period of 2006.

Serta is holding a sale until July 18. The limited offer affords you to buy mattress sets of any size in the same price. Now may be the best time to grab the offer in time for Father’s Day or in preparation of incoming summer visitors to your house!

Visit Serta for more details.

According to a recent news, people are now opting for the more expensive kind of mattresses, because it does help them sleep a lot better.

Approximately one-third of Americans are sleep-deprived at some point in their lives, according to experts at the Cleveland Clinic Sleep Disorder Center.In the search for restful relief, some people are forking out big bucks for high-priced mattresses.

“Our high-end mattress sales are skyrocketing,” said Felix Suarez of Super Mattress in Miami. Suarez said the TempurPedic line of mattresses started the trend. “When other companies saw that people were willing to pay $1,000 or more for a good mattress, it opened a whole new world,” said Suarez.

The Record reports that a mattress salesperson with a very questionable history, is prowling senior citizens club in Canada, pitching a magnetic mattress that promises to relieve different health conditions. The salesperson and is selling these between $1,800 to $2,800 when it can be bought from suppliers at $40-$80.

Thorsten Wietschel sprang for a free schnitzel lunch this week for about 30 people, mostly senior citizens, at the Schwaben Club. Then he launched into a two-hour “private lecture” on the wonders of mattress covers fitted with magnets –priced from $1,800 to $2,800 — to help with everything from incontinence to strokes. “It’s not snake oil and we are not fly-by-night,” Wietschel said in an interview before his presentation.