COVER STORY
quantity. Today, he credits much of the company’s success to the strength of its licensees. “Each one of our factories is a successful operation,” he says. “They are aggressive fac- tories that are willing to provide the retailer with everything they need, from promotional price points all the way up to high-end, with a variety of products.” In order to foster an effectual licensing part- nership, Carlitz insists that both sides must be able to carry their share of the weight. All of the company’s licensees have a proven track re- cord of being efficient, reliable and financially sound. With that stability in place, BIA is able to leverage and bolster their success by pro- viding key market differentiation through mean- ingful brand stories, exclusive technology and nationwide marketing. Beyond simply providing factories with the tools and branding they need to succeed, BIA also ensures that they have the opportunities to share their products with a wider audience—without ever blindsiding them with hidden costs or unattainable requests. This includes providing the necessary financial sup- port so that the licensees are able to showcase their products within the company’s Las Vegas and High Point showrooms. “We allow our licensees the opportunity and the flexibility to share with us what they would want to see in the showroom,” says Matthew Connolly, President of Eclipse and Eastman House. “That helps the factories kind of get a feel for what we’re doing in our market, while we get a feel for what they’re doing in their market. As a manufacturer, we have our finger on the pulse of what’s hap- pening at the retail level, on the Internet as well as the private label business. We do it all and we share those marketing and merchan- dising ideas with everyone so that they can do similar things in their marketplace.” Put simply, BIA is a “licensing group that gets along,” says Cartliz. In turn, these har- monious partnerships are able to yield high-quality bedding and tangible retail successes—like those experienced by Heri- tage Home Concepts, a Georgia-based BIA licensee. When industry veteran Terry Spears and Cartliz came together nearly two and a half years ago, retail consolidation had left the southern market lacking. By combining
10 Sleep Retailer / Fall 2016
their vital industry expertise, Heritage Home Concepts has been able to bring valuable business back to mid-sized retailers along the local southern region. “We were proud to get the Eclipse name, so we really put all our efforts behind it,” Spears explains. “Stuart is willing to listen and work as a team and I think that goes a long way with the brand, which actually makes it better for all of us. I think that’s one of the good qualities that he has—he’ll listen to what we have to say.” Stan Schnitzer of Sleep Designs, Eclipse & Eastman House of Texas, became a BIA li- censing partner eight years ago and credits the company for being “the first business re- lationship that has brought us real business.” In addition to “the use of numerous marketing ma- terials and patented features with real products and consumer benefits,” he values the Eastman House and Eclipse brands for “[allowing] us lo- cal flexibility and national cohesiveness.” With the Eclipse and Eastman House brands, BIA equips its manufacturing part- ners with a winning combination of meaning- ful history, technology and product variety. By offering a wide range of feature-filled nation- wide mattress collections, the company and its factories are able to pass on that value to the retailer—providing the market differentia- tion they need to remain competitive. “I think the most important for me is that there are benefits that are unique to these brands. It’s not just a name: there’s actually something to it,” says Gus Arias, VP of Sales for Eclipse of Flor- ida. “Our customers have asked us for features that they can sell to their end-users because it’s such a competitive market and I believe that’s probably where Bedding Industries of America is the strongest.“ When National Mattress Company an- nounced it would be shutting down production of Eclipse Mattress in 1999, Cartliz jumped at the chance to acquire the nearly 90-year-old brand. He saw within it an exciting opportunity: to enhance his company’s existing manufactur- ing capabilities with a historic brand and pat- ented technologies. Founded in 1905, Eclipse International brings with it a tradition of old world craftsmanship and advanced features. Today the brand offers five nationwide mattress
collections that range in price from $399 to $1,999 in queen at retail. The company’s Spinal Zone technology was first patented in 1993 and has been a mainstay of the Eclipse brand for more than 20 years. This unique system provides superior support to the innerspring system by enhancing the out- er frame of the mattress with a slightly lighter border rod that goes across the center third of the bed. With two rows of coils clipped to the both the upper and lower portions of the bed, the Spinal Zone reinforces the area of the mat- tress that supports the lumbar region—main- taining correct spinal alignment and delivering enhanced back support. Along with the patent, customers have the added reassurance of ex- tensive research from the University of West Virginia—which found that the Spinal Zone im- proves sleep, with a 29% improvement in sleep quality, 34% reduction in back pain and 96% reduction of back stiffness. Working in conjunc- tion with Spinal Zone, the patented Spinal Zone Quilting adds a layer of high-density visco-elas- tic memory foam to the center third of the mattress. In addition to bolstering the support benefits of the innerspring system, this exclu- sive technology delivers more topical support to the mattress as a whole—maximizing pressure point relief and minimizing body impressions. “[BIA] is one of the few mid-sized organiza- tions in our industry that is aggressively pursu- ing intellectual property and patents,” says Rion Morgenstern, President of Pleasant Mattress of California and newly signed Eclipse and East- man House licensee. “From a retailer stand- point, knowing that there is actual, dependable intellectual property behind these products is important. You can actually look up the patent number to see that it’s not just a name or a trademark but an actual patented technology.” It was through these patented technolo- gies that BIA first caught the attention of the Congress of Chiropractic State Association, a non-profit organization devoted to the ad- vancement of the chiropractic profession. As part of its mission to promote back and spinal health, COCSA endorses products that meet its strict orthopedic standards with its “Seal of Approval.” The organization first endorsed BIA in 2003—an honor that the company has maintained for over 10 years. As consumer
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