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 In
addition to the strong sales results, many of the
Therapedic factories have been pleased with the mix of
product that the Kathy Ireland line brings them. "It’s
definitely helped our average unit selling price," said
Judy Rector, president of Therapedic Okalahoma. "It does
make a big difference for us," she added. "Kathy Ireland
has brought us to a new class of customer," said Rector.
"It’s opened doors that were previously closed to us."
The Kathy Ireland Home by Therapedic line starts at $699
in queen, and goes up to $1999 in queen, in most areas
of the country. The line is segmented by three distinct
collections: the entry level, Essentials collection; the
core product, Gallery collection; and the pure latex,
First Lady collection. Each collection is comprised of
between three and six models.
The Essential and Gallery collections both feature a
unique offset coil design that is engineered to reduce
side-to-side motion transfer on the sleep surface. In
addition, each Kathy Ireland Home mattress is foam
encased for better edge support and increased sleeping
surface space. Finally, each model in every collection
features unique comfort foam that is anatomically
designed with seven distinct support zones—from
head-to-toe.
"Taken together, it’s a compelling selling story," said
Borreggine. "When you add the fact that it’s a Kathy
Ireland Home branded product, it places the retail sales
associate in a very advantageous position with the
consumer."
"We meticulously merchandised the line," said Therapedic
Midwest president, Jeffrey Sherman, the line’s
architect. "We wanted something that would appeal to
almost any retailer, but we also wanted something fresh,
and different to attract the dealer’s attention."
The most noticeable distinguishing trait of the line is
that every fabric has a gold theme, coloration, or
highlight to it. Either individually, or collectively,
the product stands out on a retailer’s floor, many of
which today are dominated by mattresses with white or
cream covers.
"The line really makes a strong visual statement on a
retailer’s floor when you are able to place several
models of it together," said Rodney Goodrum, COO of
Therapedic Denver and Texas. "When placed together, the
line brightens a retailer’s floor," said Goodrum. "I’ve
had dealers remark on how great the product shows on
their floor."
The line is quickly becoming an important staple in the
Therapedic product mix. "I anticipate that by the end of
the year, Kathy Ireland Home could account for as much
as 50% of my total business," said Niles Cornelius, COO
of Therapedic Mid-Atlantic. "And, it just keeps growing
and growing," he added.
Therapedic is working toward a complete company buy-in,
according to Borreggine. "We are not quite there yet,"
said Borreggine, "but we anticipate that we will have
100% of our licensees producing this product within a
few months. So far, every licensee has been pleased by
the results of joining the program," said Borreggine.
"We were a little late getting on board," said Norman
Rosenblatt CEO of Therapedic New England and Therapedic
Ohio. "But now that we are there, we are riding the line
hard and strong with excellent results," he added.
The other bonus of the Kathy Ireland brand is joining
the KI brand partner network, which several of the
licensees mentioned. "It’s a tremendous additional
benefit to have brand partners, like Standard Furniture,
working side-by-side with you at key retail accounts,"
said Roger Reed, sale manager of Therapedic Alabama. "A
very natural "cross-pollination" exists between many of
the Kathy Ireland Home brand partners," said Borreggine.
"It benefits everyone," he added, "the brand, the
manufacturers, the retailers, and ultimately, the
consumer."
"When we can give the retailer a compelling selling
story that is supported by an excellent cost to value
ratio, you are going to sell bedding," said Borreggine.
After a short pause, he added, "When you can add Kathy’s
brand endorsement to that equation, you’re going to sell
a lot of bedding!"
For more information, contact Gerry Borreggine at
1-800-314-4433 or visit them in Las Vegas at B0822 and
at Kathy Ireland Home by Standard, A953.
Or visit their website at
www.therapedic.com
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The "Technology of Sleep" has
played an important part in Therapedic’s development of
three separate and distinct lines of bedding—one latex
line: PureTouch; one visco line—MemoryTouch;
and one air line—AirTouch. The three
specialty lines have come to be known by Therapedic
dealers carrying one, two, or all three collections as
the "Touchables."
"We had considerable success with the
launch of our PureTouch, all natural latex rubber
line five years ago," said Gerry Borreggine. Much of
that success, according to Borreggine, was due to the
fact that Therapedic secured a pure, and all natural,
story for its latex collection. "Like anything," said
Borreggine, "there are varying qualities of material in
the latex arena. We selected the best quality latex we
could get for PureTouch. It was important to our
team that the latex was all natural and pure latex. It
gave them an advantage to talk about in the field."
"Our guys go into the field knowing
that they are offering retailers the highest quality
rubber product that is on the market," said Niles
Cornelius, COO of Therapedic Mid-Atlantic. "PureTouch
gives the retailer the confidence that they are
presenting the finest grade latex available to their
customers, and that it is totally pure and natural."
"I can’t imagine offering a consumer
a finer sleep surface than our all natural, pure rubber,
latex mattress," added Borreggine.
The next entry in the Touchables
collection is the MemoryTouch visco-elastic
line. Therapedic launched a complete line of visco
products when many manufacturers were marketing a single
item product in that category. "As a retailer, I knew
that in order to compete favorably with the market
leader, we needed more than a single entry in this
category," said Borreggine. For this reason, Therapedic
developed a four-number line of visco bedding they
called the MemoryTouch line.
"MemoryTouch has afforded our
dealers the opportunity to make a statement in the visco
bedding arena," said Borreggine. "They can go up against
any brand or any presentation of visco bedding, and
compete," he added. "MemoryTouch has been one of
our most successful product lines since we released it
three years ago," said Matt Connelly, sales manger of
Therapedic New Jersey.
Most recently, Therapedic has
rounded-out the Touchables assortment by adding an entry
in the adjustable air mattress category, AirTouch.
AirTouch is a three-model collection of sleep
sets, which feature a six-zone adjustable air chamber as
its base of support. While most air mattresses offer the
consumer two adjustable air chambers, AirTouch has six.
"We figured that when it comes to
comfort, you can never have enough choices," said
Jeffrey Sherman, CEO of Therapedic Midwest, and the
creator of the AirTouch line-up.
Unlike other bedding brands that have
brought air mattresses to the market, Therapedic decided
to go a different route when they delved into this
category. "We didn’t seek out the typical mattress
component suppliers," said Sherman. "We went straight to
a plastics manufacturer, which had been serving the
medical community with adjustable air sleep surfaces for
use in hospitals and therapy clinics," he said. "We
wanted a product that was designed to provide a
discernable, and superior difference to any other air
mattress on the market," said Sherman. "We think we did
that with AirTouch," he added.
For more information
on Therapedic’s lines of latex, visco-elastic and airbed
sleep sets contact Therapedic at: 1-800-314-4433,
www.therapedic.com |
|
The Story of the Little Engine
Marketing the Therapedic Brand to Dealers
in the US and Around the World
The little engine that could became the little bedding
company that can, when Therapedic group president, Gerry
Borreggine, was reminiscing about the Therapedic group’s
history with founder, Jerry Gershaw.
"We were discussing how the equity groups have
swallowed-up so many of the bedding companies, and how
they continue to do so today," said Borreggine. This is
because the equity groups see bedding as a "strong buy,"
explained Borreggine.
"But, when investors buy-up bedding companies, the
service provided by those mattress companies usually
changes once the investors take hold," said Borreggine.
"In addition, what those companies can do for their
dealers is often diminished once the equity groups
assume management control," explained Borreggine.
As Gershaw and Borreggine reminisced about the
industry’s past, and ruminated on its future, they
started to realize that Therapedic was probably the
largest group of independent mattress manufacturers left
in the industry.
"We are the biggest independent guy left standing," said
Borreggine. "And, that puts us in a very unique position
of being one of the few larger brand names that is able
to be flexible, versatile, and responsive to the
individual needs of individual dealers, in individual
markets."
"I feel like we’re on top of the mountain, now." he
said. "We’re the only big brand that can be whatever we
need to be, market-to-market."
The idea sprouted that Therapedic was the little
company, who worked harder for their dealers across the
country, and in Therapedic’s case, all over the world.
"I thought that we were like the little engine that
could," explained Borreggine. "And that the idea would
draw a very descriptive parallel to Therapedic and what
we do," he added.
Hence, the Therapedic little engine was born.
Therapedic developed a trade ad campaign and has adopted
the little engine as its brand icon. The company is
making plush toy engines to distribute among its dealer
base. The idea seems to be "rolling along," as they say
in the railroad business. "Everywhere we take our little
engines, dealers and customers, alike, can’t get enough
of them—everybody wants one," said Borreggine.
It looks as
if Therapedic’s little engine may become more than a
symbol for the way it does business; it may become a
popular icon that gets bedding dealers jumping aboard
the company’s program, as well. |
