In this episode of “Inside the Mind of Today’s Mattress Shopper” Therapedic’s CEO and president, Gerry Borreggine, digs into Better Sleep Council research, sees opportunities for mattress retailers to sell more sheets, and talks about consumers’ need to replace aging pillows.
Transcript
Dave Perry
Hey, it’s Dave Perry. Welcome to “Inside the Mind of The Mattress Shopper.” We are in chilly High Point, and as they said in Game of Thrones, winter is coming. Gerry, you’ve been here for decades. Is this the coldest it’s ever been?
Gerry Borreggine
49 degrees this morning. I didn’t bring a warm enough jacket.
Dave Perry
All right. Well, despite that, we’re going to have a good warm discussion. And the topic is sleep accessories. It’s interesting to me that sheets are the most purchased sleep accessory. And yet in your day, you gave them, you literally gave them away.
Gerry Borreggine
This was a long time ago. So, the accessories weren’t sold in specialty stores. They were used as giveaways to close mattress sales, which is certainly sad, but that’s how we did it. Today, I think the retailers are much more savvy and they’ve learned that these are accessories that can add to the ticket and create greater profitability for the stores.
Dave Perry
You know, we found that it’s the big discount retailers that are really dominating the accessory business. Can mattress retailers compete with those guys?
Gerry Borreggine
Yeah, they can because they need specialty sheets to do that. I mean, they can’t go out there and sell the rank and file sheets that are found in the big box stores because they can’t compete with them and the prices. They can’t get the sheets, they can’t get them at those prices. They have to have a unique product that has maybe unique selling features, unique features and benefits, unique solution-based sheets.
So they can do that just like we do with mattresses. We have unique selling features to mattresses, and we can do that with accessories as well.
Dave Perry
Let me ask you about hygiene. It is really kind of is shocking to me. 23% of consumers expect pillows to last five years or more. That’s probably not a good idea, is that?
Gerry Borreggine
No, it’s not. Hygienically, it’s certainly not. But then again, you know, consumers keep their mattresses far too long. So these mattresses should be replaced at a far greater clip. And they’re not. And so it doesn’t shock me that the pillows are also being kept far too long.
Dave Perry
What is the conventional wisdom on how long a pillow should last? I’ve heard is it like a year, a couple of years, a year or two.
Gerry Borreggine
I don’t know how long it should last. You have different pillows out there now that I’m sure if people are buying $150 pillows, they’re not going to throw it out in a year. But I would think they need to be replaced at least every couple of years for hygiene.
Dave Perry
Finally, I want to ask you about some really interesting findings on how enjoyable is it to shop for a mattress Now, if you look at the online retailers, they kind of have the message that it’s pretty terrible to shop for a mattress. And yet when we asked this, 27% of consumers said it’s not very enjoyable, but 37% said it’s a little enjoyable, 33% said it’s very enjoyable, or it’s a lot of enjoyment.
Dave Perry
What are those numbers tell you?
Gerry Borreggine
We’ve got a 70% rate of satisfaction.
Dave Perry
Yes. Which is a really high number.
Gerry Borreggine
Which means it’s not true that consumers loathe the mattress shopping experience. I think part of the reason that the mattress experience is viewed favorably by the consumer is because they have quite a high degree of satisfaction after the purchase with the product. So the product, the glow, the afterglow of the product, I think, is shading the shopping experience and really casting it in a good light.
Dave Perry
Yeah. So some good findings there. Well, great catching up with you. Good luck with your “Inside Track” series. We follow that. Love what you’re doing with retailers. So keep up that good work. And the BSC is going to keep up its research, and a new round is coming shortly we’ll look forward to talking to you about that.
Gerry Borreggine
Look forward to it, Dave.
Dave Perry
Have a good market.
Gerry Borreggine
Is this how we do this? Can we do it this way, too, sometimes?
Dave Perry
Note, and we blow it up. We blow it up.
Gerry Borreggine
Thank you.
