COVER STORY


of leveling off once things go back to “nor- mal,” we shouldn’t expect things to just snap back to the way they were in 2019. “Once you break a habit and learn an-


other way to do something, and it becomes comfortable, then you’re going to keep do- ing that,” she explains. “It just takes a while of back-and-forth until you break a para- digm and move onto the next standard way of doing things.”


And even though there will no doubt con- tinue to be consumers that prefer to shop in-store, retailers that don’t have an effective ecommerce strategy in place are at risk of losing out on a major portion of the mattress market share. So you want to build a new ecommerce mattress program—what happens now? South Bay is there to guide its retail part- ners through every stage of developing and selling a new ecommerce program. And for some retailers, that starts with shifting their very understanding of the category itself. “If you’ve been a retailer for a long time and you’re used to that person walking in on the floor and doing your sales approach,


10 Sleep Retailer / Fall 2020


know that it’s a totally different animal on- line,” Serven says. “You have to be open and ready for that. You cannot think that you know just because you’ve been doing it as walk-ins for years.”


But it’s not just in-store sales either. Sell- ing a mattress online is different than selling other furniture products online too. While aesthetics


are often the primary priority


when purchasing case goods, function and feel take precedence when buying a mat- tress—and those types of features are often more difficult to communicate via text and images alone.


Recognizing this common challenge, South Bay works with all of its retail partners to de- velop very focused custom programs. Rather than relying on a plug-and-play approach, the company collaborates with each retailer to de- velop a program that is suited to their unique needs and customers. This means that the line-up will not only be specifically designed for the ecommerce space, but exclusive to their store.


“If you are going online, you really need to figure out your story first,” Serven explains.


“You need to know what’s going on in the market and decide: are you going to be a ‘me too’ product? Or are you going to concentrate on offering a program based on a certain type of feature or technology? There’s so many different things you can do now, and you re- ally have to differentiate yourself.” The overarching story of the program can come in many different forms, depending on the retailer’s goals. For some, it may mean targeting the value shopper with a simple all-foam model at an entry-level price. Others may want to build a wider pro- gram centered around a common material, technology or feature—like bamboo cov- ers or charcoal-infused foams or “cooling” more generally. Or perhaps the focus is the marketing message: retailers can craft their collection around a specific theme, be it athletic performance or waking up without aches and pains. “We always start with that really consul- tative sales process, where we sit down and understand what it is they want to do,” Ser- ven explains. “And if we get into a conversa- tion and realize they have no idea what they


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