Retail consulting group Mattress Retailer Toolkit hosted nearly 40 retailers at a boardroom dinner event the day before the start of the winter Las Vegas Market.
Mattress Retail Toolkit was founded by Gardner’s Mattress & More co-owners Jeff Giagnocavo and Ben McClure, and marketing strategist Mike Capuzzi. The event, held at the World Market Center in partnership with Andmore, brought together retailers to share ideas face-to-face.
“In-person events are unique in the energy they bring to a group of people,” Giagnocavo says. “For this event, our minds were focused on the customer buying decision and what that journey looks like, especially as technology begins to be more and more of a part of that buying journey.”
Giagnocavo also said it was important to assemble the room in a way where people weren’t just sitting next to their co-workers or friends.
“I really wanted to assemble great tables of people that I knew would be additive and elevate conversation,” he says. “And you have to balance the introverts and the extroverts, if you can. Sometimes it can feel like a high school cafeteria with everyone sitting with people they know, so we tried as best we could to make sure we mixed up the tables.”
At the event, Giagnocavo asked a series of questions to attendees and had them discuss the questions while breaking bread and getting to know each other. Some questions included: What slows customers down in the buying process? What speeds it up? When does price become the sole focus? How can price be removed from the equation to support better sleep decisions?
“People were grateful to hear different experiences,” Giagocavo says. “And they heard things differently. I had a couple of people say, ‘I’ve heard that before, but I heard it said just a little differently today, and it really hit home.’”
He adds that the discussion reinforced that no two retailers operate the same way, as everybody interpreted and responded to questions in unique ways. This reinforced how valuable open dialogue and shared learning are in the industry, according to Giagnocavo.
“It’s easy in our industry to fall into the same habits, and this event was an opportunity to pierce that bubble, especially right in advance of the Las Vegas Market. These people were already actively engaged in improving their businesses and then the night before market we gave them a workout to think hard about what they’re doing to truly help their customers get better sleep.”
Overall, he says the event was a success and plans to put on more in-person and virtual events in the future.
“As technology evolves more quickly, we’re no longer in a place where learning and catching up is allowed,” he says. “We really have to be in a place to move forward faster. When you attend events that are focused on the outcomes that retailers need, they give you ways to do that.”
