If you've seen a mattress retailer in your area, you've probably seen the plethora of "HUGE SALE" signs overtaking their building. It seems that it has become synonymous with retailers to be offering a sale each week. We are asked very frequently "when is your next big sale?" We often smile and politely say, we aren't sure to help save their time.
We choose to leave our windows uncovered and display our amazing products easily and not overload onlookers with information or bogus sales gimmicks. It seems as if retailers and companies are no longer confident or believe in their margins they offer. Profit has seem to become the dirty side of the business that most companies have extorted for their personal gain and not for the longevity of their business. Margin/Profit, to us, is part of being responsible and accountable to the customer. It is the magic number that allows us to continue to offer product and support for 103 years. Sure, from time to time we have to accept less than our normal goal to earn a customers business that we would normally lose to big box stores that have an advertising budget greater than our yearly sales number. But, the profit or the margin on a product is how we can stay and business for another day. No one wants to purchase from a company one month just for them to go out of business the next. They want the year after year support and affirmation they purchased a quality product.
Consumers understand there is profit in an item for the business, as long as there is value still in the product they will purchase. That's the key to it all is to offer value, it's the number both you and the consumer agrees on to purchase the product. If you offer a great product at a fair price the consumer accepts the value of it and they will feel like they were treated fairly and with respect. You can lose value in several different areas, but typically it is when quality is sacrificed or when the item price has dropped to an unusual level turning it into a consumable or disposable. We are able to run on much thinner margins than many of our industry competitors for several factors, but one of them being a non-commissioned sales staff. Doing so, allows us to offer our products at a very competitive price all year long. You hear that from time to time as a salesman trick/gimmick which is someone that doesn't really know what margins they are selling at, but for our business it's true. We choose not to dabble in the "spiff" industry. There are a million reasons why we stay away from it as a whole, but to say it simply and as humble as possible, it's just not our tradition. It's not what we feel good about doing each day as we leave the store.
Customers ask us during a consulting process who are we usually competing with and we honestly don't know who we are competing with that offers the products we offer. Or maybe it's because we choose not to focus on being defensive. We choose not to be in the blowout gimmicks giving BOGO's on mattresses and we also choose not to offer a $10,000 mattress. We compete with anyone on a quality product for a fair price, so whoever offers that is our competition. Even then, we won't look at them as competition, we would respect their business and work with them in the industry to make it known as a pleasurable shopping experience. There isn't a race to the top or a race to the cheapest mattress worth racing. Those businesses have come and gone over our 103 years of existence. The businesses that are sustainable are the ones offering a great value to their customers and we feel that it is our tradition and what has kept us in business for many many years.
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