Bedding retailers wrapped up 2019 on a strong note

Time：2020-01-20 10:52:06    Share：

The bedding industry wrapped up last year on a strong note, recording its best month in December and its best quarter in the fourth quarter, a retail survey says.

The Piper Sandler December Mattress Retailer Survey showed a solid month, with sales growth at a mean of 8.9%, and the fourth quarter recording mean dollar sales growth of 8.5%. That was a slight improvement over the mean of 8.4% sales growth reported for the third quarter.

The December performance marked a noticeable improvement over November, when mattress retailers reported mean sales growth of 4.8%.

The firm surveys retailers across the country each month to get their thoughts on business trends and key issues facing the industry.

It found that 64% of retailers said they expect 2020 to be similar to 2019 for sales growth, while 27% said they expect 2020 to be better than last year, and just 9% expect a worse year in 2020 than in 2019.

The survey also found growing sales strength for hybrid mattresses, with 55% of retailers saying hybrids produced the strongest performance in 2019, compared with 36% who said foam mattresses were the strongest performers last year and 9% who said innerspring mattresses were the strongest performers in 2019.

Piper Sandler said that hybrids “are quickly increasing share” and noted that 29% of retailers said they were the strongest performing mattress type in 2017, while that figure increased to 43% in 2018.

Foam mattresses, in contrast, have been on a roller coaster, the firm said. While 43% of retailers said foam mattresses were the strongest performer in 2017, and that number jumped to 57% in 2018, it was down significantly to 36% last year.