Selling Mattresses Online
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Michael Knell’s HomeGoodsOnline.ca HGOSUMMER 2017 merchandiserVolume Six, Issue 2 Our Canadian THE BOXED BED: Furniture Show preview David Coletto selling introduces the millennials mattresses The mattress: a technological online marvel Kimmberly Capone & embracing change CONTENTS favour of shipping mattresses directly to the customer’s door without her ever seeing – or lying down on – the real deal. The crazy thing is, it seems to be working. Ashley Newport authored our report. PROFILE 26 EMBRACING CHANGE Ashley Newport profiles Kimmberly Capone and looks at how one woman dramatically transformed her fledgling family’s business model by reinventing the wheel and taking risks – something that ultimately quadrupled her com 8 pany’s sales. All she did was adopt a new way of selling. EDITOR’S LETTER 6GET YOURSELF TO MARKET IDEAS Change is coming. Learning about 33 HAVE YOU MET THE those changes, sharing ideas about MILLENNIALS? the best coping methods while finding David Coletto, this country’s acknow great product for the floor remain three ledged expert on the millennials, of the best reasons to come to market. introduces us to this group of people, If you’re a Canadian furniture, mattress born in the years beginning in 1980, and major appliance retailer attending who are going to determine the fates the upcoming Canadian Furniture Show and futures of furniture, mattress and really ought to be mandatory. That’s major appliance retailers for literally 33 also true if you’re a vendor looking to decades to come. do business with that same retailer. PRODUCT STRATEGIES MARKET PREVIEW 36 THE MATTRESS: 8CELEBRATING THE A TECHNOLOGICAL MARVEL CANADIAN INDUSTRY Technology is driving growth in the The 2017 edition of the Canadian mattress and bedding business. The Furniture Show will be easy to product itself is becoming more navigate and be a little more compact. sophisti cated. So is the means by which The organisers are promising this is marketed and sold to the consumer. industry’s only national trade event Canadian manufacturers are adapting will offer all the right things to the to this reality quite nicely. Our report 26 attending retail buyer, including great was written by Michael J. Knell. product, a great shopping environment with opportunities to learn and INDUSTRY network. Michael J. Knell reports on 45CALENDAR & 40 the preparations. ADVERTISERS’ INDEX INNOVATIONS ON OUR COVER: Industry veteran Deanna 18 THE BOXED BED: Bartucci founded The Naked Mattress last SELLING THE MATTRESS summer along with partner Juan Sanchez. ONLINE It’s one of a handful of Canadian ‘pure play’ A massive shift in consumer behaviour e-commerce mattress retailers who are has prompted some brave – and, in some changing the way the consumer thinks cases, quite successful – entrepreneurs about buying the device upon which they to forego the traditional showroom in spend about a third of their lives. 4 HGO merchandiser THE ENDURING CRAFTSMANSHIP OF STEARNS & FOSTER® Stearns & Foster mattresses are built on the belief that there is no greater luxury than the finest bed. Each bed is meticulously handcrafted by master craftsmen, paying relentless attention to detail. We fuse innovative time-honoured traditions, for precisely engineered construction and lasting quality. AD stearnsandfoster.ca HomeGoodsOnline.ca 5 EDITOR’S LETTER HGO merchandiser SUMMER 2017 • VOLUME SIX, ISSUE 2 MICHAEL J. KNELL ISSN 2291-4765 www.HomeGoodsOnline.ca PUBLISHER & EDITOR Michael J. Knell GET YOURSELF TO MARKET [email protected] MARKETING DIRECTOR Change is coming. Learning about those changes, sharing Corrie-Ann Knell ideas about the best coping methods while finding great [email protected] product for the floor remain three of the best reasons to CONTRIBUTORS David Coletto come to market. Donald Cooper CONTRIBUTING EDITOR ELL, HERE WE ARE. MARKET IS COMING. EVERYONE IN THE Ashley Newport industry knows my view. If you are a Canadian furniture, mattress [email protected] and major appliance retailer, it’s in your best interest to get out of your store and get yourself to Mississauga for the Canadian ART DIRECTOR Furniture Show, which opens at the International Centre on May 26. Samantha Edwards W Sam I Am Creative Conversely, if you are a Canadian furniture manufacturer, mattress maker, [email protected] major appliance resource or other potential vendor partner to the aforementioned retailer, your obligation is to have a presence on the floor, ready to share your IT DIRECTOR knowledge, insight and strengths – and maybe even your product. Jayme Cousins A year ago, in this same issue of the Merchandiser, I advocated furniture trade In House Logic events really shouldn’t be about buying and selling. In my view, the purchase order [email protected] should be seen as a bonus – as a ‘nice to have’ not as a ‘must have’. PUBLISHED BY We need to come together as an industry and start talking to each other about Windsor Bay Communications Inc. what’s coming, because I don’t think the industry is really aware of potential P.O. Box 3023, 120 Ontario Street dangers lurking on the horizon. They will impact all points of the purchase path to Brighton, Ontario K0K 1H0 the consumer, from manufacturing and distribution to retail. T: 613.475.4704 Some of them we’re aware of: increasing household debt; stagnant wages; F: 613.475.0829 housing affordability; and, uneven job growth. Others are no so obvious. Michael J. Knell, Managing Partner The new U.S. administration wants to renegotiate NAFTA. During the first go PUBLISHERS OF round, this industry was very nearly sacrificed in the government’s haste to sign HGO This Week the deal. Fortunately, that exercise seems to have worked out reasonably well. Home Goods Online.ca © 2017 After all, the damage in recent years was caused by the dollar, which went on a Windsor Bay Communications Inc. crazed oildriven growth spurt and drove it to highs no one anticipated. All rights reserved. Now, our sitting federal government is talking about free trade with the People’s Windsor Bay Communications does not accept Republic China, which is a really bad idea. The PRC has done this industry a lot of any responsibility or liability for any mistakes or misprints herein, regardless of whether such errors damage over the past two decades and we’re going to have to fight this. are the result of negligence, accident or any other And the best way to fight it is to get united. That’s why we need the Canadian cause whatsoever. Reproduction, in whole or in part, Furniture Show. It’s a place for people from across the industry to meet and talk. of this magazine is strictly forbidden without the We need to strengthen our manufacturing. We need to bolster Canadian furniture prior written permission of the publisher. retailing. Our best place to meet is at our only truly national industry event. It’s not AFFILIATE MEMBER a panacea. It’s a start. I hope to see you there. Michael J. Knell Publisher & Editor [email protected] 6 HGO merchandiser Business. Network. Inspiration. Over 7,000 Great Show Participants Specials! Lunch & Learn Exhibitors230 Speaker Series including Highly Acclaimed Designer Sarah Richardson Register Now! May 26-28, 2017 The International Centre — Toronto, Ontario canadianfurnitureshow.com HomeGoodsOnline.ca Facebook “f” Logo CMYK / .eps Facebook “f” Logo CMYK / .eps 7 The Alliance dining table from Zuo MARKET PREVIEW Modern Canada offers a regal profile using an elegant ‘X’ style wood base supporting a plank style table top with a distressed natural finish that adds intrigue and dimension to the room. CELEBRATING THE CANADIAN INDUSTRY This year’s Canadian Furniture Show will be more compact but the organisers are promising it will offer all the right things to the attending retail buyer, including great product, a great shopping environment with opportunities to learn and network. BY MICHAEL J. KNELL HIS YEAR’S CANADIAN FURNITURE SHOW The Perth queen Platform bed from Zuo Modern Canada offers a simple yet will be easy to navigate and even though it bold silhouette as its rich chestnut finish with elegant distressing gives a will occupy a more compact space, president distinguished detailed look to the plank style headboard. Its sturdy metal and chief executive officer Pierre Richard is base adds a retro mid-century modern look in iron finish. promising attending retail buyers there will be plenty for them to see, shop and study as they walk the halls of For the past 46 years, the Canadian Furniture Show has Tthe International Centre beginning on the morning of May 26. been – and remains – the industry’s only truly national There will be several noticeable differences from last year’s event. Indeed, the only furniture and mattress industry trade show. The schedule is the most immediate. In 2017, the show events held outside of CFS are the memberonly conventions opens on Friday (May 26) and closes on Sunday (May 28). and buying fairs held by Cantrex Nationwide and Mega The exhibits will open at 9am and close at 6pm. This is a shift Group and the Toronto Winter Furniture Show – an adhoc from the Saturday to Monday timeframe used last year and event for a group of companies with permanent showrooms the Saturday to Tuesday used for decades prior to 2014. in and around the International Centre. It’s organised by the According to Richard, the schedule was changed in response Canadian Home Furnishings Alliance. to feedback received from retail buyers and other attendees Richard acknowledges when the doors open on the when they were surveyed after last year’s event. “A lot of buyers morning of May 26, the show will be slightly smaller in terms said they didn’t want to spend a weekend at the show,” he said, of its floor plate, but will show the wares of about the same adding, “People told us they prefer Friday to Sunday.” number of exhibitors.