In my last column, I explored the changing psychology of today’s mattress shopper, from shifting expectations around value to a longer, more deliberate path to purchase. But understanding the consumer is only half the equation.
For mattress retailers, the challenge now is translating those behavioral changes into sales strategies that give cautious shoppers a compelling reason to buy.
From the way consumers discover products to the environments in which they shop, the traditional mattress-selling playbook is evolving. Retailers are rethinking promotional strategies, investing in elevated showroom experiences and placing greater emphasis on education and personalized service to win over today’s more discerning consumer.
AI is changing how consumers find mattresses
The path to purchasing a mattress is shifting. A subset of consumers who once relied on Google searches and online reviews are turning to artificial intelligence tools to narrow their choices and make purchasing decisions.
“The biggest shift we’re watching is AI-assisted discovery,” said Matt Walker, co-founder and president of bed-in-a-box brand Lull. “Consumers are now asking ChatGPT or Perplexity what mattress to buy and getting a direct answer — not a list of links to click through. If your brand isn’t being recommended in those responses, you’re invisible in that moment. That’s a structural change in how people find products, and most brands aren’t ready for it yet.”’
Amerisleep’s 2026 State of Mattress Buying survey found that 37% of respondents had used AI tools during their mattress search, making it the second-most-used research starting point behind Google, at 49%.
Holiday shifts
Beyond how consumers search, when they purchase is also changing. As traditional holiday weekends stretch into month-long promotional events, retailers face a growing balancing act: capturing early-bird attention without eroding the urgency that drives conversion when the actual holiday arrives.
“Memorial Day and Labor Day are the two biggest moments in the mattress category, full stop,” said Matt Walker, co-founder and president of Lull. “Consumers have been trained over decades to expect deals then, and they actively go looking. What’s interesting is that the research window opens well before the holiday itself—people are comparison shopping a week or two out. January is also real; sleep quality becomes part of the New Year’s health conversation, and we see genuine intent follow that.”
As traditional holiday events bleed into extended promotional runways, retailers find themselves navigating whether these prolonged windows risk training consumers to wait for perpetual discounts. At the same time, this temporal shift is fundamentally reshaping fourth-quarter expectations.
Walker noted that he and his team were surprised by their own fourth-quarter data, which showed that Lull’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday lift more than doubled from 2024 to 2025.
“That’s not a promotional fluke — it’s a behavioral shift,” Walker said. “Consumers who used to reserve Black Friday for TVs and appliances are now comfortable making a $1,000+ mattress purchase in that window. The practical implication for retailers: the mattress category is becoming a Black Friday category faster than most people in the industry have noticed.”
However, the increasingly promotional nature of the bedding business can create challenges for independent retailers, particularly those competing with brands that have significantly larger advertising budgets.
“We are noticing that both our e-commerce and in-store sales are becoming hyper-dependent on major holiday trends driven by ‘bed-in-a-box’ brands,” said Ryan Farris, owner of Mattress King. “When these brands ramp up spend for a holiday weekend and then abruptly cut back, we feel the impact immediately. I believe these massive fluctuations in national ad spend are a primary cause of the extreme ‘ups and downs’ we are seeing in local retail traffic.”
Independent retailers are finding ways to capitalize with sales not tied to traditional selling holidays. Two weeks before Labor Day, Houston-based retailer Exclusive Furniture ran the “No No No” promotion which offered no sales tax, no delivery and no set-up fees or interest until 2030.
According to Vice President of Operations Fawad Zavary, the high-impact sale was designed to capture consumer attention when they drown out the messaging tied to traditional promotional holidays. It worked–he said that the multi-day No No No sale was the retailer’s best weekend since Memorial Day weekend.
Elevated showrooms
As consumers become more accustomed to researching products online before making a purchase, physical showrooms have an opportunity to offer something digital channels cannot easily replicate: a personalized, hands-on experience.
Tony Lee, a growth and performance marketing expert who has led global paid media at Shopify, points to Tempur-Pedic’s flagship stores as an example of how an elevated retail experience can differentiate a brand.
One underrated tactic, he says, is creating an environment where customers can receive private, one-on-one consultations and test different mattress types.
“They’ve treated it like a design consultation — Crate & Barrel style — with naturally higher average order value,” Lee said. “Those margins make experiences like that possible. And here’s the tell that it works: DTC went retail too.”
Indeed, several direct-to-consumer mattress brands like Saatva and Avocado Green Brands have expanded into physical retail, recognizing that online discovery and in-person shopping can complement one another.
Saatva, which launched as a DTC brand in 2010, opened its first brick-and-mortar location in December 2019. As of late 2026, it operates 34 physical retail locations across the U.S.
Rather than traditional stores or showrooms, Saatva calls these spaces “viewing rooms.” Designed to feel low-pressure, they are largely self-guided, with integrated information kiosks and staff available to offer assistance. Orders are fulfilled online and delivered directly to customers’ homes.
Avocado Green Brands is pursuing a similar strategy. Founded as a direct-to-consumer mattress brand in 2016, the company plans to be in more than 900 physical retail locations by the end of 2026. Co-CEO Vy Nguyen said growth for its own sake isn’t the goal, but rather part of a broader strategy that combines brick-and-mortar with e-commerce.
Independent retailers are also finding ways to make the in-store experience more distinctive. At Gardner’s Mattress & More in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, co-owner Jeff Giagnocavo has invested in a private, bedroom-like space called the Dream Room, where customers can rest-test mattresses for anywhere from 15 minutes to four hours.
The room has served as a sales-closing tool since it debuted in the early 2010s, Giagnocavo told Bedding News Now in August. The retailer is now updating the space to incorporate connected-bedroom technology, including automation packages designed to help customers create personalized sleep environments.
Education is a competitive advantage
But creating an inviting showroom is only part of the equation. As consumers arrive with more information and sometimes preconceived ideas about which mattress they want, sales associates need the expertise to guide them toward the right solution.
Exclusive Furniture offers one example of how retailers are investing in that knowledge. Zavary said the retailer has held two-hour educational sessions for employees every Monday for the past six years, often bringing in mattress specialists, vendors and other industry professionals.
For Exclusive Furniture, the investment in education has accompanied significant growth in the category. The retailer increased annual bedding sales from approximately $4 million to more than $8 million, with mattresses and bedding now representing 23% of its total business.
Giagnocavo also places a strong emphasis on employee education. He recently invested in Spencer Institute Sleep Science Coach Certification for his sales team, giving associates additional training in sleep science and how to help customers find the right solutions.
“We don’t win on price; we win on better sleep,” Giagnocavo told Bedding News Now.
For both retailers, the investment in expertise reflects a broader opportunity to differentiate through personalized recommendations and a deeper understanding of the products being sold.
Winning the mattress sale in 2026 isn’t necessarily about selling more aggressively. It’s about giving consumers better reasons to buy. The retailers best positioned to navigate this changing landscape are those that give consumers confidence they’re making the right investment and meeting shoppers wherever their purchasing journey begins—whether online, in person or a combination of both—will be key.
