‘A Mini Field Guide to the Mattress Shopper’

The BSC and Sleep Savvy team up to create an interactive infographic to give retailers insight into consumers, generate sales

‘A Mini Field Guide to the Mattress Shopper

CONSUMER AWARENESS The Better Sleep Council and BedTimes’ sister publication, Sleep Savvy, have compiled profiles of men and women ages 18 to 34, 35 to 54 and 55-plus to help retailers understand consumers’ shopping habits and preferences.

The Better Sleep Council and Sleep Savvy, BedTimes’ sister publication, have joined forces to help retailers understand their customers better by offering helpful, easy-to-understand information about today’s shoppers.

This month, Sleep Savvy and the BSC, the consumer-education arm of the International Sleep Products Association, are unveiling an interactive infographic, “A Mini Field Guide to the Mattress Shopper,” which includes consumers’ shopping habits, sleep needs and preferences, to help retail sales associates learn more about their customers and nab more sales.

“Our goal is to provide our industry insights into today’s consumer and what they are thinking, how they shop and what are their perceptions on sleep and their mattress,” says Mary Helen Rogers, ISPA vice president of marketing and communications. “We wanted to develop an evergreen resource that RSAs and anyone selling sleep products can access. We will debut the interactive digital infographic this month during ‘May Is Better Sleep Month’ and will add details and information to the resource each year, giving more insights into today’s consumer.”

The animated infographic, housed at SleepProducts.org, is a playful, easily digestible and visual way to review consumer statistics and to understand the nuances of shoppers by age and gender. Profiles analyze male and female shoppers in three age brackets: 18 to 34, 35 to 54, and 55 and older.

For example, younger consumers (ages 18 to 34) typically are buying their first mattress and 25% have no idea what type or brand they are sleeping on now. But we do know some things about how they sleep and what they want: 60% are side sleepers, 32% want a hypo-allergenic mattress, 21% want a firm-edge mattress, 15% could be sold a bed frame, 11% could be sold some pillows and 17% are considering adjustable options. In addition, 78% want enough room for two people in either a queen or king mattress—unfortunately, they are willing to pay only $400 to $600 for one.

The field guide also offers tips specific to each generation. For instance, chances are younger men and women may have never been in a mattress store, let alone considered buying a bed. RSAs may need to take time to educate them about which mattress might suit them best.

How did the BSC and Sleep Savvy glean these insights into bedding consumers? The digital shopper profiles were synthesized from an extensive analysis of existing proprietary BSC data. First, the BSC consumer research conducted in 2016 offers a robust look at mattress shopping behavior, along with people’s changing attitudes about sleep. For example, trends that emerged from this project indicate consumers’ expectations of a mattress’ life span have dropped below the 10-year mark for the first time since 1996. (For more about the 2016 consumer research, see the January/February, March and April 2016 issues of Sleep Savvy at SleepSavvyMagazine.com.)

Second, the BSC has accumulated a wealth of self-reported consumer data through the Better Bed Quizzz that launched in May 2016. Currently, 78% of users who start the quiz, finish it, offering mattress-buying decision support to the consumer and valuable data on consumer behavior to the BSC via Google Analytics reporting. The BSC will continue to incorporate this data into the field guide as more consumers complete the quiz.

“Everyone sleeps, but not everyone prioritizes it the same way,” Rogers says. “We all have opinions, likes and a specific budget in mind. When RSAs have an understanding of who they are talking to and, in general, their shopping behaviors and preferences, it can shorten the buying cycle and allow for a greater opportunity for up-sale and accessory sales.”

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