Selling adjustable bases is one of the best ways to boost the average ticket in your store — and to help your customers sleep well and feel great when they wake up each morning.
Here are some tips for increasing sales in your brick-and-mortar locations.
* Go big. If you can, put an adjustable base under every mattress on your showroom floor. “This allows the base to become a norm instead of an alternative to the traditional frames,” says Sheila Luciano, vice president of business development for Customatic Technologies, a power base producer headquartered in Natick, Massachusetts. And, if that’s not possible, place power bases under your most popular mattresses and under each major construction type you sell: all-foam, innerspring, hybrid. Then plan to increase the number of electrical outlets the next time you expand or remodel so that you can make power bases ubiquitous.
* Make an early introduction. Don’t wait to talk about adjustables until after a shopper has narrowed down her options or chosen a favorite mattress. Instead, introduce them after rest-testing, advises Jay Thompson, president of Leggett & Platt Adjustable Beds in Carthage, Missouri. “Unlike 10 years ago, consumers are generally aware of these products when they visit the store, and the key is to allow them to experience the feel for themselves as soon as they find a mattress that meets their comfort preference,” Thompson says.
* Make the sleep-health-base connection. Your retail sales associates are trained to talk about the importance of sleep to health and how a mattress can improve both (at least we hope they are trained to do this). Extend that conversation to the health benefits of adjustable bases, Luciano says. Adjustables can help reduce snoring, relieve back and neck pain, relieve acid reflux and more.
* Keep the math simple. “Don’t rely on the RSA or consumer to do the math. Display pricing that clearly shows combo pricing of the mattress with adjustable base,” says Rick Sterzer, executive vice president of sales for Rize, a maker of adjustable bases and other sleep products based in Cleveland.
* Offer understandable step-ups. While you should display as many adjustable bases as you can, keep your overall lineup to a step-up array with clear differences between models. This keeps both RSAs and consumers from being overwhelmed, Sterzer says.
* Use social media as an RSA. Promote your adjustable bases on Facebook, Instagram and elsewhere to educate and entice customers. “Utilize social media to elevate the customer experience, promote in-store shopping and boost influence and sales. As the category continues to grow, so do the assortment of technological advances,” says Sherry Chapman, head of marketing for Ergomotion, a power base specialist based in Santa Barbara, California. “Promoting these groundbreaking technologies digitally will continue to inform potential and prospective customers on the competencies of adjustable bases.”
* Tout them on your website, too. The pandemic accelerated the trend of consumers researching products online before visiting a store, says Dexter Weber, president of Logicdata North America, based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. “There are many consumers who want to shop local and will research the options online before entering a store and they are further along in the buying process,” Weber says. Be sure to promote all of your adjustable bases online, showing attractive photos and videos, highlighting key features and benefits, and providing a complete list of specifications for those who even more information.
To get up to speed on the latest innovations in power bases and for a sample of new products, visit SleepSavvyMagazine.com/The-Power-of-Adjustables in the July/August issue of Sleep Savvy.
