As in, can I get this mattress, foundation, adjustable base or decorative bed into small cartons for easy shipping?
That is the overall theme as I walk through the moderately busy Summer Las Vegas Market visiting mattress and sleep accessories exhibitors.
It seems easy-ship has become the mantra of the sleep products industry. It’s not just about getting product direct to consumers who’ve never set foot in a sleep shop. It’s about regional manufacturers selling to far-flung retailers and for the industry as a whole to be like Minute Men, always at the ready for a new distribution opportunity–to grab that product and head for the roll-pack.
There’s a lot of information packed on these Serta boxed products.
In this “new Wild West” of the bedding business, Tony Wolf of Wolf Mattress told me, “you can’t cut corners with components.”
They have to be good quality and able to spring back out of their tiny boxes.
“But, as a mattress manufacturer,” Wolf says, “you also have to know how to make (beds) faster, better and (more economically) than in the past.” (Hmm, sounds like a topic for a BedTimes cover story.)
SSB’s Serta and Beautyrest brands showed new boxed collections produced by Sinomax USA. Some of the Serta boxes (left) are covered with product information, acting as billboards for the retail floor. At Simmons, there also was a simpler box just for digital channels.
Wright Global Graphics is introducing PerformaFlex, a new rubberized, flexible printing just right for a neatly branded bed border–boxed or not. Those letters always will spring right back after scrunching and stretching, and the product was expressly designed for mattress makers. Don Wright explains it all in less than 30 seconds:
Don Wright of Wright Global Graphics touts PerformaFlex printing/labeling for str-e-t-chy #mattress border fabrics #LVMKT pic.twitter.com/htnR9MU800
— BedTimes Magazine (@bedtimesmag) July 31, 2017
Jon Mullinax with Hollywood Bed Frame Co. rests his elbow on the box that holds this upholstered knock-down foundation:
Niche suppliers, like organic mattress maker Savvy Rest in Virginia, have long understood the importance of being able to ship product cross country. The new, customizable Zenspring mattress (explained, below, by John Howard-Smith) can be disassembled and shipped in three small packages, just like the higher-priced Serenity bed.
Zenspring #organic #mattress from @SavvyRest is completely customizable says John Howard-Smith #lvmkt pic.twitter.com/4NmrItsURQ
— BedTimes Magazine (@bedtimesmag) July 31, 2017
Phew, it’s only 108 degrees in Las Vegas today–I’ll be strolling over to the World Market Center shortly along with my fellow editors to look for more mattress news. Be sure to follow @bedtimesmag and @sleepsavvymag on Twitter and look for our complete Las Vegas Market show report in the print magazines, BedTimes and Sleep Savvy.
WILL IT S-T-R-E-T-C-H? Yes, say Wright Global Graphics’ Don and Ron Wright about new PerformaFlex.
Report all errors and corrections to BedTimes.
