The fall High Point Market (my favorite) will be here shortly. In the spirit of being helpful, I hereby offer five reasons for optimism this week in bedding showrooms:
- The Fed has cut interest rates and by more than many economic observers were expecting. The Fed’s half-point interest rate cut last month should be great news for the mattress industry, giving a boost to the housing market and giving a boost to consumers’ confidence, too.
Mattress executives had been closely watching interest rates for months and were openly rooting for the Fed to begin cutting rates. That was a big topic of conversation when I visited mattress showrooms in Las Vegas in the summer, and now the industry’s hopes have been realized. Dare we hope for another rate cut when the Fed meets next month? Sure, let’s jump on that bandwagon. - The election will be here in 15 days. I know it seemed like this election season would never end, but Election Day is just over two weeks away. And that will, finally, bring some clarity to our political landscape.
“It will all get better on Election Day,” Therapedic CEO Gerry Borreggine told me in a recent video chat. He said the election will bring “certainty” to what has been a decidedly uncertain political climate. It will be a time to exhale and to look forward to better business to come, Borreggine added. Amen to that. - Mattress shopping is on many furniture shoppers’ minds. Our Consumer Insights Now mattress study, released last week, found that 25% of furniture shoppers plan to purchase a primary bedroom mattress during the second half of this year, and seven out of 10 of those mattress shoppers say they are willing to pay more for a quality mattress.
There’s been a lot of concern in the industry that the election will stifle furniture and mattress sales in the second half, so it’s nice to see this strong signal of purchase intent and this strong interest in buying a quality mattress. - There’s mattress business to be had in the year’s final months. Yes, Labor Day was the last major mattress holiday of the season, but don’t count out November and December. Almost one-third of second-half mattress shoppers told us they are planning to buy that primary bedroom mattress in November or December.
- Things have to get better soon. It’s high time for the industry to break out of this mattress recession and get back to our usual growing ways. Analysts see better mattress business in 2025. As we enter the year’s final months, we are getting ever closer to an improving business climate.
Armed with these doses of optimism, I hope you have a great High Point Market. I’ll see you there.
