Air and Visco foam surfaces represent approximately 20% of mattress industry sales today. Specialty sleep surface sales expanded the category as a whole but not at the expense of traditional mattress offerings. Industry experts predict such growth trends will continue to expand and, by 2008, place 35% of mattress sales in specialty sleep categories. However a "Buy Gap" customer mystifies and challenges sleep product retailers.

THE MATTRESS BUY GAP CHALLENGE Industry research finds that a 39% "Buy Gap" exists in the Mattress Industry. The Buy Gap customer enters a store with the intention to buy a mattress, the money to buy a mattress, and the need to buy a mattress, but leaves without making a purchase. The retailer serving this "Buy Gap" customer was unable to effectively match the customer with a sleep product in either a timely enough or accurate enough manner to meet the customers buying decision criteria.

THE ACCESSORY BUY GAP CHALLENGE When surveyed, consumers frequently indicate that they appreciate the opportunity to purchase sleep accessories when they purchase their mattress. While sleep industry retailers and manufacturers alike agree that the correct pillow is essential for maximizing the performance and alignment offered by a new mattress, and that it is essential to offer consumers effective mattress protection, industry averages show that a meager 10% of mattress units are currently sold with either pillows or mattress protectors. Consumers unable to find accessory products available at the point of the sale of the mattress often purchase an improperly matched pillow for body type and mattress firmness at some type of mass merchant and then become dissatisfied with the alignment achieved but incorrectly attribute the discomfort to the new bed purchase.

SALES FLOOR CHALLENGES Industry practices in comfort selling are full of challenges as well. Customers shopping for a new mattress enter the bedding department or gallery with a pre-existing idea of what soft, medium and firm represent. There they meet a sales person who typically queries them with common questions on size and brand preference and on what their firmness preference is and proceeds to recommend a series of mattresses to test rest. The result is an elaborate process of best guessing what the customer means by the words soft, or firm or plush, or medium.