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Websites Help Retailers Manufacturers and Consumers
By: Dale T. Read , Editor-in-Chief There are three updated or new mattress, bedding news, technology and shopping related websites now available for web-savvy consumers, retailers and manufacturers. Today, many people like to be armed with information prior to actually going out into the market. And these websites can provide a wealth of information and assistance on bedding, mattresses, futon, and top-of-bed products.
The Specialty Sleep Association (SSA) is an international non-profit advocacy and education association whose mission to promote those new innovations and latest advancements in sleep technology which have become increasingly popular since the early 1990’s. The SSA has recently re-launched an updated website for consumers, retailers and manufacturers to promote a wide variety of newer sleep product technologies including: airbeds, flotation (water) beds, visco-elastic or temperature-sensitive foam beds, natural and all-natural latex rubber foam beds, cool-sleeping gel beds, adjustable beds, futon and convertibles, as well as green or, sustainable beds including natural, all-natural and organic bedding and mattress products.
The new SSA website offers a nation-wide retailer store locator featuring retailers who carry specialty sleep products and who have joined the SSA. The store locator gives preference to SSA retail members, directing consumers to those stores first. In market areas where there are no SSA retail members, then consumers will then have the option of locating a store by linking to www.MATTRESSFINDER.net.
In addition to member retail stores, the site also lists manufacturers and suppliers to the specialty sleep industry. As the site grows and improves, there will be a gallery of products offered by member manufacturers along with logos and links.
The SSA site also provides information to manufacturers and retailers on the Specialty Sleep Association Showroom (C-1350) in Las Vegas. Through their sponsorship of this “show within a show” the SSA continues to promote new science, innovation and technology, serving as a value-added destination and incubator for the larger market. To find out more about the SSA and the SSA show, retailers and manufacturers are encouraged to visit www.sleepinformation.org.
“Where to Try It, & Where to Buy It” Launched in March www.MATTRESSFINDER.net is the first independent and totally impartial mattress/bedding store-locator search site. www.MATTRESSFINDER.net, allows consumers to search by city or by zip code as well as distance in miles, and it permits a potential mattress consumer to search over 18,000 store locations. Being completely impartial, this website favors no one brand, and it sells nothing to a consumer, having only the interests of the consumer and retailers in mind when it offers the first nationwide mattress store finder.
The site also offers basic information on how to shop for a mattress or top of bed products, and it encourages consumers to “rest test” or try out a mattress and to buy it at a bricks and mortar store. According to webmaster and co-owner James (Jay) Begley, the site offers a FREE initial alphabetical listing for 18,000-plus stores, and a full range of paid linkages, product offerings, store photos, banner ads and other value-added services for retailers who wish to participate. The site is being constantly updated, store by store and community by community. Begley states, “We welcome input and inquiries from retail store owners and managers and we hope to be the source consumers prefer when searching for local mattress stores.”
As of July, 1 the site has daily posts on the “Latest News” page mattress, bedding, futon and top-of-bed product, marketing and company news. While other home furnishings websites may post daily news, it is not exclusively mattress/bedding focused. Retailers, consumers and manufacturers looking for mattress/bedding related information will be able to access this focused news every day.
Manufacturers, suppliers, and retailers are invited to send news releases and electronic photos, logos and product or company information. All releases should be sent to daler@rtppub.com or mread@rtppub.com.
BEDROOM remains dedicated to publishing the product-filled, technology and marketing focused quarterly Sleep Retailer’s magazine it has published for the past fourteen years; however, with the need for timely, current news, BEDROOM’s website will now offer daily postings exclusively focused on bedding, mattress, futon and top-of-bed news.
For more information visit www.SleepInformation.org, www.MattressFinder.net and www.Bedroom-Mag.com. |
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