ISPA Reports 4Q 2006 Bedding Sales

February 15, 2007  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in Bedding on February 2007 Wholesale fourth-quarter 2006 revenues for 19 leading U.S. mattress producers rose 2.1 percent to $970 million compared to the same period in 2005, while unit shipments of 4.6 million were down 1.8 percent.

That’s according to the International Sleep Products Association’s December industry survey released Thursday.

Complete details on the full industry’s performance for ’06 will be available in ISPA’s 2006 Mattress Industry Overview, due out this spring. Based on the survey results, unit shipments for the full-year 2006 were down 1.1 percent from 2005, offset by a healthy increase of 6.4 percent for wholesale revenues. These results suggest average annual growth rates for the three-year period 2004 through 2006 totaled 2 percent for unit shipments and 9.7 percent for wholesale revenues, continuing a strong industry trend whereby wholesale revenues have increased every year since 2001.

ISPA credited that performance to increased demand for high-end products priced above $1,000, plus other favorable economic and demographic trends.

The decline in unit shipments for 2006 reflects negative year-over-year unit comparisons in six of the 12 months, including a five-month trend beginning in August. This trend suggests consumer demand for durable goods purchases such as furniture and bedding continues to be squeezed by economic factors, such as increased mortgage rates, a recession in the housing sector, higher energy prices and increased interest rates.

Compared to 2006 results, ISPA’s latest forecast predicts higher growth rates for 2007 and 2008. Unit shipments for 2007 and 2008 are predicted to grow 1.5 percent and 3 percent, respectively; and growth value of bedding sales is projected at 8.5 percent and 8 percent over this two-year period. Economic factors including more stable gasoline prices and expected decline in interest rates are forecasted to improved consumer demand for new bedding products.

“The general picture is one of steady growth, with average annual dollar growth rates of 6.5% for the last 20 years,” said Dick Doyle, ISPA president and CEO. “This latest report is consistent with the trends predicted by our econometric model for the entire industry, which statistically links the bedding industry to the larger home furnishings market and the national economy.”

According to the latest report, the leading producers shipped 2.1 million innerspring mattresses versus 259,000 non-innerspring products during the fourth quarter of 2006. The dollar value of those mattresses was $529 million and $218.1 million, respectively. Shipments of innerspring mattresses dropped 3.8 percent, while non-innerspring product shipments grew on average nearly 8.3 percent when compared to the fourth quarter of 2005.

In regional terms, the South continues to lead in number of units shipped and wholesale dollar value, followed by the West, the North Central and the Northeast regions. The South and North Central regions experienced a decline in shipments for the 12 months of 2006 (compared to full year 2005), but all regions enjoyed dollar growth in mattress shipments for the same period.