Mattress Sales Declining in 2008?
Furniture Today is predicting a decline in sales of mattresses for 2008 but foresees something good in terms of bedding shipments.
The forecast, compiled with input from virtually every major U.S. bedding producer, envisions a difficult year for the industry, with producers and retailers alike struggling to eek out gains. It calls for a decline in units of 0.6%, with dollars growing by only 2.8%. That dollar growth would be the weakest since the recession year of 2001, when the dollar value of bedding shipments declined by 0.3%, according to ISPA.
The producers surveyed were almost unanimous in predicting that units would be flat next year, or would decline. Six producers predicted no unit growth, while seven predicted unit declines. Only three producers forecast unit increases next year.
If the Furniture/Today bedding forecast for 2008 materializes, it will mark a third consecutive year of challenging business conditions, an unusually long stretch of hard conditions in the mattress industry.
