Two decades ago, furniture stores reigned over retail mattress world. Consumers preferred spot to purchase mattress set. Today, the environment has changed with warehouse clubs, mattress specialists, and online stores competing with full-line furniture stores. However, even if furniture retailers can never get their dominance back, they can recuperate a part of their sales.
First try to learn why numbers of mattress shopper are decreasing, so you can plan ways to increase sales.
Overall unwillingness to introduce bedding
Your team has been trained to introduce bedding to customers visiting to choose furniture but is your team talking about the sleep department products along with living and dining room items. It is studies that over 85% people sleep on poor mattresses, which impacts their lifestyle and performance. It triggers sleep disorders and other health problems. This means 85 people out of 100 walking through your furniture store door can benefit from new sleep surface.
Educate your team on good sleep benefits and the impact new sleep surface can have on potential buyer’s life. Many shoppers are not experts in buying furniture and need guidance about what your store offers. ‘They did not ask for’ must not be an acceptable response but use tactful ways to show mattress set to each shopper visiting your store. Look at more info online on ways to promote sleep and not mattress.
Sales person’s choice
Many shoppers purchase mattress, which the salesperson influences them to buy in spite of the sale promotion, product knowledge, comfort test, and best options. As more than 95% shoppers leave your furniture store without buying a mattress means you must make sure that your sales person shows all kinds of mattress that suits their comfort level and needs.
Never allow your sales team to show only expensive brands and avoid others. Every mattress low or mid-priced has a position on your on-sale floor and each sale counts [cheap or expensive doesn’t matter]. Make sure that your salesperson’s biases do not drive away the sales opportunity. It is crucial to find the right mattress for every shopper as per their unique needs.
‘Now-today’ options
Mattress is ‘now-today’ purchase, which means if the shopper leaves without mattress, he/she will purchase from another shop in town. They will never return back as he/she desires to buy one today. Therefore, the job of your salesperson is not to burden the buyer with something they don’t need as well as cannot afford. They are liable to assess the shopper’s needs and present relevant products as well as encourage to select one he/she wishes to purchase that very moment.
When installment cost of new dining set or living room furniture is quoted, remind shoppers that adding a small amount can help to upgrade their sleep and wellbeing. Every mattress has 2 prices – cash price and monthly installment cost. Your sales team need to know about both.
It is in the back
Bedding departments in majority of furniture stores are in the back side, hidden corner. Even the ads of mattress promotion in Sunday newspaper are on the back page. When mattresses are kept in the rear part of your store and even ads are on the back, which means you are positioning this category back in the minds of managers, sales team, and buyers.
Get what is invested
With the right bed, you can possibly get 20% sales, if beds are displayed in 10% of the floor space. Make sure to display models, which are popular in the market. Modify your selling space every three months. Be sure that the test beds and pillows are clean. Shopworn merchandise needs to be put on clearance sale at cut prices as low as 50%. Dead beds use live selling space, so give a push to move out.
