What is a foam sommelier? 

It's a great question and we are so glad you asked. We sat down at the Furniture Today Bedding Conference held this past week in Orlando, Florida with Scott Smalling, Founder of Relief Bed International and more recently, Chief Commercial and Innovation Director for Emma, The Sleep Company, to chat the bedding conference, foam and what his role at Emma, and we get an update on Relief Bed since our last conversation in April 2021.

We discuss the shift facing D2C innovators and their strengths and struggles, what Relief Bed is doing to help in the Ukraine and how Scott is working to become the industry foam sommelier through Emma. 

We also honor Roger Magowitz of the Seena-Magowitz Foundation who received a Lifetime Achievement award this past week. Congratulations, brother!

Consider the sleep disruptors that detract from good quality REM sleep.

If you do a proper job of interviewing a person about all of the things standing in the way of a serious log-sawing session, then some of these things will come out.

If you’re in a mattress store, maybe they don’t get into it with you—because why would they?

For years, retail sales associates have been looked down upon—with people calling the position a dead-end job that no one can make a career out of.

But anyone in the retail business knows that’s not true.

Just look at Broad River Retail, for example. In 2020, Broad River celebrated 51 Million Dollar Writers in its Million Dollar Memory Makers program. And while they set a goal of 60 for 2021, they had 98 employees write one million dollars or more in sales last year.

As the company explained to The FAM, jackpot bonuses, consistency, and recognition of excellence have helped them build a community of sales associates who not only receive an excellent commission but also enjoy selling furniture.

Ray Kinsley puttered around town in a pearl Buick with a blue top. He drove my grandma to the senior center for lunch each day and to church on Sundays.

Along the way he would jump curbs, motor through manicured lawns, bump bumpers, and park on top of the white lines.

A string of fender benders unfolded before my dad, Mickey, found out and decided it was time to permanently park his parent’s car in the garage.

My grandpa Ray was 90-years old and after dad retired the Buick we found out the townspeople of Crocker, Missouri appreciated my grandpa’s distinct colored car because it was an ivory and sapphire signal to get the hell out of the way; Ray was coming and he might run you off the road.

If you haven’t started planning Memorial Day, don’t worry, there’s still time.

With the holiday coming up in just over a month, The FAM reached out to a few mattress industry executives to see if the holiday is still important and talk about how it’s marketed in the industry.

But Direct Ship Mattress did just that at the end of 2021, and the story that led to the opening is almost as unbelievable as the fact that it opened at such a challenging time in the industry.

A quick look at the most current U.S. Census shows that 76% of Americans are White, 13% are Black, and 6% are Asian.

That should come as no surprise. But when we think about the furniture industry—which is primarily made up of older White men—is there a disconnect between the people in the C suite and the people actually buying the product?

Find out more at fam.news!

The price index for household furnishings and operations increased 10.1% over the past year—its largest 12-month increase since the period ending July 1975.

That’s according to Mattress Industry Consultant and Texan Mattress Owner Lawrence Heilers.

So what does that mean? He explains in a recent Facebook post:

“Customers are getting used to higher prices. They are overpaying for homes. Paying offer sticker for cars. We need to change our marketing strategy to focus on:

“We have to stop promoting $149-$199 queen mattresses, twins at $99 or $39 down no credit needed financing. Your guests shopping promotional prices are being stretched while your premium guest is flush with cash and equity. You get what you fish for. It’s time to reinvigorate your business with a better marketing strategy.”

The FAM has always been fans changing with the time and trying new marketing strategies, so we reached out to Heilers to have him elaborate on his post and see what retailers can do now to sell to the customer of the future.

To find out more, read the rest of this article on fam.news!

Are you in the mattress business or are you in the life improvement business? It’s an important distinction because they deliver much different margins and require a different approach in just about every aspect of your business.

That’s the topic of an in-depth report The FAM released called “The Sleep Store of the Future.”

“Mattress stores are concerned about getting to the transaction,” says author Mark Quinn. “Sleep stores are focused on helping the consumer transform their sleep life through a better understanding of their own problems and possible solutions.

“Mattress stores are fighting everyone else on price, driving margins lower. Sleep stores are playing their own game adding value to the sale and the consumer experience as an authority in the market, allowing them to drive margins up.

Here’s the thing: even the retailers pushing the “sleep delivers a better quality of life” message aren’t really in the sleep improvement business if you get right down to it. Because if they were, wouldn’t their store look different?”

Read the full report to learn how you can transform your store into a store of the future.

It’s not just insecure men who say size matters.

In the furniture world, it seems as if big retailers are getting bigger and more successful—and that goes for big box stores, large independent retailers, and more.

If that’s the case, is the day looming where Goliath crushes David? Or do smaller retailers still have a shot on the playing field?

We take a look at both scenarios.