Several exhibitors at the recent market said that even though they had less traffic than they’d hoped, they did have more quality customers looking to buy, and it was a successful market overall.
Buyers who attended the market were serious, as evidenced by the fact that several exhibitors shared with Bedding News Now that buyers were coming earlier than ever this market. Some even showed up on Monday and Tuesday and left well before the official start of the market on Saturday.
“Buyers aren’t browsing the market like they used to,” said Richard Diamondstein, Paramount’s managing director. “They are here to find something to enhance their product lineup.”
While this isn’t entirely new, as many bigger retailers typically show up earlier, the number of buyers who came early seemed larger this time, according to our sources.
“Buyers who are here to figure out their business and improve it are the ones who will win next year,” said Steve Karns, vice president of sales and business development for Bedding Industries of America. “Eighty-five percent of our retailers are doing well this year, and 25% are even up this year.”
Restonic realized the power of High Point Market and returned to the market in a shared showroom with Style Setters. Mark Campbell, Restonic vice president of sales, said the company is dipping its foot back into the market to see if it’s a good fit. The company highlighted its ComfortCare hybrid collection.
“It’s already been as good as the July Vegas market for us,” Campbell said. “We’ve been able to see a lot of our existing accounts that we weren’t able to see in Vegas, and it’s only Friday.”
MotoSleep also made an introduction at market with its high-tech Infinity adjustable base. While MotoMotion, its parent company, has had a space in High Point for some time, the sleep division is stepping into the spotlight.
MotoSleep uses a fusion of MotoMotion’s patented motion technologies and electronic features, and the manufacturer is 100% vertically integrated, so it makes every single part of the Infinity base.
The base, which is the company’s core product at the moment, has a patented one-piece folding design that allows it to be shipped more easily and set up quickly. It fits any bed frame and features the company’s patented SoftFirm technology that is optimized for no-pinch comfort.
Heritage Sleep Concepts, which returned to market for the second time this fall, unveiled its sustainability-focused Peach green mattress. The boxed bed is all natural, using FSC-certified Talalay latex, a five-zoned pocket coil and staples instead of glue to hold the layers together.
“We’re offering something special — a value-priced green mattress — that will get retailers 10%-15% higher margins,” said Jordan Beck, COO of Heritage Sleep Concepts.
Designer programs
As interior designers attend the High Point Market in large numbers, several exhibitors have put a new focus on these buyers.
Shifman introduced a concierge service that connects designers and their clients with a dedicated Designer Concierge, who guides each client through the mattress shopping experience.
“Think about the conversation around mattresses — they’re not exciting to designers,” said Mark Quinn, Shifman’s senior vice president of sales and marketing. “If designers are not taking advantage of helping the customer choose their mattress, they’re missing a huge sale.”
The company’s concierge program offers private fittings in Shifman’s Newark showroom — with champagne and strawberries — as well as virtual or telephone consultations. Designers can experience Shifman’s mattresses in a designer showroom, or shop the collection on Shifman’s Perigold page, exclusively set up for designers.
Shifman also unveiled its redesigned Inspired collection, which features a subtle floral design in colors that are easy on the eyes. Andi Jones, director of product development and training, said the line provides an easy-to-merchandise lineup that’s based on the Arts and Crafts movement of the 1900s.
“The movement is a rejection of everything that’s low quality and mass-produced, which fits in with Shifman’s ethos,” she said. “The designs are appealing to designers and bold, but not in your face.”
The collection includes four adjustable-base-friendly models that the company said are value options ideal for extra bedrooms or secondary spaces.
Magniflex introduced its designer program last year and has been making updates behind the scenes leading up to High Point Market.
“We asked ourselves if our designer program spoke to the needs of designers and we realized the answer was no for two reasons,” said Ian Hays, vice president of sales. “First, designers don’t always want to buy wholesale. Second, it’s hard for designers to be experts in everything, like mattresses. Great design is a conflation of form and function, and it has to be both.”
Through the program, designers can refer their clients to Magniflex, and the company’s in-house team will provide expert guidance for the client. Referred clients receive exclusive savings off of their choice of Magniflex’s luxury bedding collections, and once the purchase is completed and the product is delivered, the designer receives a commission on the total sale value.
“This program allows designers to customize the way they want to work with us,” Hays said. “They can either do it all themselves, do parts of it themselves or let us do it all behind the scenes and become an extension of their designer brand.”
