Mattress renewal taking shape but price hikes are a concern

Indicators are positive as the High Point Market opens for its spring edition. I've been hearing good reports about retail sales, which is always a helpful sign. For their part, bedding producers come to the Furniture Capital of the World loaded with new lines. And the bedding lineup here is expanding.

Perhaps, as the flowers burst into bloom in this season of rebirth, the mattress category will usher in its own season of renewal, a time of robust sales bursting forth across the country.

Or maybe not.

But before we get to causes for concern this year, we begin with the positive side of the ledger. Business was surprisingly robust at the bedding-rich Las Vegas Market earlier this year, a demonstration of positive retail moves and attitudes. That could also mean a nice lift for this High Point Market.

As we noted earlier, major bedding producers have a plethora of new lines: Sealy is showing its new flagship Posturepedic line, Simmons has new flagship Beautyrest lines, and Serta offers its new flagship Perfect Sleeper line and its iComfort gel memory foam line. Given the importance of the flagship lines and their broad distribution, retailers are sure to be drawn to them.

The International Home Furnishings Center continues to focus on the bedding segment and welcomes a Top 10 producer back to High Point this market: Comfort Solutions. The No. 6 producer has a big showroom in the IHFC, where it will show its "no sag" Extended Life line, an upgraded Sleep ID line, a revamped Laura Ashley line and a new two-sided bedding line.

Also new to the IHFC is the Specialty Sleep Assn., which showcases emerging new sleep technologies, and Vivon, which has a new partnership with Brookstone for a massage mattress.

Returning IHFC exhibitor Paramount introduces its "Sleep for Success!" line, keyed to its partnership with James Maas, the sleep expert who co-authored the book, "Sleep for Success!" Paramount also unveils a line developed in partnership with A. H. Beard, the Australian bedding power.

Those are just some of the product highlights. Space limits me from listing more.
The negative? Price increases. Bedding producers tell me raw materials prices are rising. That is a particularly unwelcome development at this point in the year. Retailers are never happy to hear about price increases and might resist them. That, in turn, would mean shorter margins for producers or a move to less expensive (translation: lower quality) materials. It might mean both.

How will all this play out in High Point? That's one of the story lines I will be following.

See you at market. Hope yours is a good one.