Study: Consumers Considering Mattress Toppers

April 21, 2010  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in Bedding on April 22, 2010

A new study of 2,043 U.S. consumers with an average age of 45 revealed that 65 percent of the respondents were unhappy with the current comfort and support performance of their mattress, according to specialty sleep innovator Sleep Studio LLC and A-ha! Insights, which sponsored and conducted the research.

A surprising finding of the research, however, was that only 5 percent of the respondents were considering buying a new mattress, whereas 60 percent said they would more readily buy a mattress topper.

"We were surprised that 76 percent of the respondents were familiar with mattress toppers as a solution to their support and comfort challenges with their current mattresses," said Sleep Studio President and CEO Michael Rothbard. "With their aging parents on one side and their maturing children exerting pressure from the other, the last place baby boomers say they want discomfort in their lives is when they go to sleep at night."

Adding comfort and providing a better night's sleep were the two key motivators for the mattress topper decision, as reported by 38 percent of the respondents. Better back support was cited by 19 percent of those surveyed.
 
The most important product attributes for consumers for their mattress toppers were related to price, thickness, firmness and density. Of secondary importance were added features such as being hypo-allergenic, anti-microbial and the product being eco-friendly.

Sleep Studio markets its SleepJoy-branded ViscoFresh mattresses, pillows and toppers to leading retailers. The company commissioned the independent study to help it better understand why mattress topper sales in big box retailers was growing, yet weak in the furniture, department store and sleep shop segments of the industry.

"A key learning for us was that while a majority of consumers are not getting the support or comfort from their current mattress, they don't necessarily see the immediate solution being a new mattress, but rather they first want to look at an accessory purchase, like a topper, which they cannot find at a traditional bedding retailer," said Rothbard. "Yet, if you use basic norms of consumer product research, we think there is a topper market of probably 33 million consumers who would likely buy mattress topper today or tomorrow and the traditional bedding retailer is missing out on this market opportunity."