Episodes
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The Power of the Labor Day Double Entendre
As of Sept. 21, I’m a dad! While I’ve learned a lot about babies and the amazing way the human body functions, I’ve also learned a lot about sleep — and the lack thereof. Every new parent knows sleep becomes more precious when the little one arrives, and that’s a message the mattress industry...
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5 Creative Ideas To Drive Fall Foot Traffic
Football. Halloween. Leaves changing colors. Who doesn’t love fall? As the weather cools and people venture out to do their holiday shopping, retailers have the perfect chance to bring in customers with community-based events that can build brand recognition and offer people in the local area a…
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Retail Sustainability – Are We Environmental Hackers or Caretakers?
As we begin to recover from a pandemic that strained retail beyond conceivable belief – not to mention dramatically shifting shopping patterns and purchasing behavior – retailers face increasing pressure to commit to ambitious environmental and social goals. And consumers are making it clear that...
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New Tool Predicts Leads And Finds Industry Weak Points
GTRsuite is a technology company that offers geo-locating tools for retailers and manufacturers in the home furnishings industry. Its latest release, the Lead Prediciton Engine, geolocates shoppers who search for furniture online so GTRsuite knows where all of those searches appear and the SKU...
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Is Revenge Bedtime Procrastination Real?
Do you ever tell yourself you’re going to go to sleep at a reasonable hour but suddenly find dozens of things to do that keep you awake? If so, you may be suffering from something called revenge bedtime procrastination. To read and learn more, click here.
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3 Reasons You Really, Really Need To Pay Attention To TikTok
By now, you’ve likely seen an article or heard a podcast about why TikTok is important to your business, and companies like Simmons — which teamed up with TikTok stars Charli and Dixie D’Amelio on a new mattress aimed at Gen Z. — know the power of the platform. But new research shows something...
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Stop And Smell The Micro-Moments
Everyone’s looking for the next big idea, but sometimes you need to stop and pay attention to the micro-moments. Google says these occur when people “reflexively turn to a device — increasingly a smartphone — to act on a need to learn something, do something, discover something, watch something…
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Could A Brand Museum Work For Your Store?
If you look at good marketing today, it’s clear that storytelling is the secret to any successful brand. But with your retail store as your brand, are you making the most of your storytelling abilities? Here’s a unique idea: Brand museums. To read or listen to more about how a bran museum could...
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A Day In the Life of Dennis The Pillow
What does your pillow do all day when you’re not sleeping on it? How does it keep itself busy? Does it like its pillowcase outfit? These are all questions Dennis the Pillow answered when he recently went on the “Everything Is Alive” podcast to share his thoughts on being a pillow and what that…
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Is Your Business Blog Delivering Results?
When’s the last time you did an honest, thorough audit of your content marketing strategy? When it’s done correctly, content marketing is a powerful tool. But when it’s done incorrectly, it’s an expensive hobby. An effective business blog allows you to tap into audiences that you may not be able…
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World's Greatest Mattress Superhero Returns!
It was a sad day in superhero history when Mattman fell fighting the nasty Sleeping Bandit. But there's hope!
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Wells Fargo Economist Predicts Normalization Is Coming
At Nationwide Marketing Group’s 59th PrimeTime event in Orlando this week, Wells Fargo Economist Charlie Dougherty shared several interesting insights into the housing market, inflation and the supply chain. Read the full recap here.
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Nationwide Partners with Thermador On Exclusive Appliance Program
As Nationwide Marketing Group continues to grow and expand its luxury appliance focus, the group has announced the addition of an exclusive program with appliance manufacturer Thermador.
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5 New Mattress Firm Ads Get To The Bottom of Junk Sleep
Around this time last year, Mattress Firm unveiled its unforgettable “Unjunk Sleep” campaign — which launched with actor Liev Schreiber riding down the street on a mattress and stating that America has a junk sleep problem. The campaign was a success, and it led the company to launch several more...
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Casper Hiring Professional Sleepers
You heard that right — it’s a real job title that Casper is hiring for right now. Casper Sleepers will sleep “in our stores, and in unexpected settings out in the world,” according to Casper’s job posting. For more on this exceptional job posting, click here.
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Planner 5D Takes 3D To Next Level
Tech company Planner 5D has developed the first use-case demo for Apple's newest RoomPlan API, which uses the camera and LiDAR scanner on iPhones and iPads to create a 3D floor plan of any room. This unique technology finds dimensions and inserts furniture and decor items by using its own AI...
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RSA Rockstars: Jerrod Young at Columbus Mattress Wholesale
Despite what those outside the industry might think, to say RSAs are the backbone of the home furnishings retail would be an understatement. They are the ones spearheading the sales, talking to and learning about customers. They train and memorize product details, brand names, and SKUs, all while...
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3 Online Shopping Statistics You Need To Know
If you’ve embraced the e-commerce world, you know how often things change and how much the sector is growing. That’s why online-savvy retailers value statistics that let them analyze the market, understand opportunities for growth, and see what the competition is doing. In the most recently...
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How to Build and Manage Your Social Media Crisis Plan
Have you built your social media crisis plan? If you didn’t have one before the pandemic – and still don’t have one – it’s not too late. Yet.
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Dawn House Living’s Focus On Seniors Pays Off
Dawn House Living President Gui Peres talks about why the new Dawn House line has been successful and what the future of health and mattresses looks like.
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How Will Inflation Affect HENRYs?
HENRYs — high earners, not yet rich — is a marketing term coined in 2003 to describe families earning between $250,000 and $500,000, but not having much left after taxes, schooling, housing, and other costs. Since then, it’s been used in marketing to target a younger generation of wealthy people…
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Top 3 Trends in Luxury Appliances
The luxury appliance market saw incredible growth in 2021 as homeowners upgraded their living spaces with new refrigerators, cooktops and ranges, laundry and other high-end appliances. More disposable income and changing tastes drove luxury appliance growth. Consumers stuck at home working...
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Will Consumers Embrace Buying Now And Paying Later?
Most retailers in the home furnishings industry offer a range of financing options, but a new trend is coming into play. Find out who the major players are, what their platform offers and the growth trends on the horizon!
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RSA Rockstars: Isabella Clark at Columbus Mattress Wholesale
When Isabella Clark, needed a change of pace, she decided to try something new and interesting: mattress sales. Starting six months ago as an RSA at Columbus Mattress Whole in Ohio, she says she’s enjoyed learning and growing her knowledge of the industry. The FAM talks to the RSA about what she...
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Why Are Storage Beds Gaining Popularity?
The FAM looks at beds with built-in storage from Bedline as well as Ergomotion, and finds out why they're getting more popular in the U.S.
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Here’s What’s Working For Broad River Retail
When we ask retailers what questions they have about the industry, many say that they want to know what works for other retailers. And mimicry is the most sincere form of flattery, so if something works for another retailer, there’s a chance you can make it work for you. Broad River Retail has a...
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Omnichannel Optimism: Sweet Dream’s Secret Weapons
Keith Moneymaker of Sweet Dreams Mattress & More explains how he has had success connecting consumers with RSAs through the store's website.
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Emerging Social Media & Your 2022 Ad Budget
If you’re wondering where to spend your ad dollars this year, Julia Rosien has some ideas! Hint: we’re thinking bigger ad dollars on smaller networks
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RSA Rockstars: Jennifer Martinez at Sweet Dreams Mattress & More
Jennifer Martinez, a sales associate at Sweet Dreams Mattress and Furniture, talks about what she loves and doesn't love about the industry.
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Omnichannel Optimism: Bedzzz Express Succeeds Without E-commerce
“Omnichannel” has become somewhat of a buzzword in the home furnishings industry—and for good reason. These days, most retailers would fair better with a strategy that integrates different methods of shopping, but it may seem intimidating if you’ve never done it before. The FAM reached out to...
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3 Ideas to Drive Summer Foot Traffic
The sun is shining, the weather has warmed up, and people all across the country are ready to enjoy the summer. That gives retailers the perfect chance to bring in customers with community-based events that can build brand recognition and offer people in the local area a fun activity. Here are a...
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Climate Change May Steal 50+ Hours Of Our Sleep Per Year
Swelteringly hot temperatures. Hastily rising sea levels. Excessive droughts in the western U.S. Scientists agree climate change is affecting our world’s environment, but now they’ve discovered it may also affect our sleep. In a study published May 20 in the journal One Earth, findings suggest…
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Covid, Millennials Bring Opportunities Rent-to-Own Retailers
The furniture industry knows a thing or two about the various challenges caused by Covid and the many changes that have happened or will happen because of it. One of these changes has to do with a little-talked-about category in the industry: rent-to-own furniture. The rental furniture market is...
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New Tuft & Needle Videos Focus on How You Feel After Good Sleep
Consumers are recognizing how sleep and wellness are intrinsically intertwined. However, despite acknowledging the importance of sleep, a recent Tuft & Needle survey found that two-thirds of Americans note that they don’t get enough sleep, with seven out of ten people admitting they get less than...
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Hickory Springs Finds Niche In Home Health Category
There’s a new focus on health in the bedding and mattress industry—and it’s not going to slow down anytime soon. From adjustable bases to built-in Bluetooth sleep monitors that can track your heart rate and alert you to any potential issues, there are several mattress companies making an…
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13 Questions With Overstock.com President Dave Nielsen
Overstock.com, the online powerhouse launched in 1999, quickly established itself as a source for just about anything under the sun. But as part of a recent and ongoing reinvention, the company now has a laser-sharp focus on furniture and related goods. The FAM’s Ray Allegrezza had a recent...
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Weddings Present the Mattress Industry a $2.5 Million Opportunity
Did you know that this year there are projected to be 2.5 million weddings in the U.S this year? That’s a record high, mostly because people have put their weddings on pause for a couple of years due to Covid. In addition to that, their bank accounts are relatively full, they’ll soon be ready to...
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How Much Is Your Logo Costing You?
This week, Interwoven—the fabric market put on by the International Textiles Association (ITA) that was previously known as Showtime—debuted its new brand look, including a new logo and magazine that ITA says “represent the merging of ideas through collaboration, connection and innovation.”
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2022’s Shifting Digital Trends – a Retail Marketing Primer
Remember the World Wide Web – Web 1.0 – and when you suddenly needed a website to promote your business? Cycle ahead a decade or so. Without warning, Web 2.0’s user-generated content model (think Wikipedia, Myspace, Tumblr) forged the path for Facebook and Twitter — and then Instagram, TikTok…
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In Stock and Ready to Rock: A Closer Look at Nationwide's Centerpoint Tool
Shoppers don’t just want a smooth and seamless retail experience, they expect one. And if you can’t deliver, that could mean the business goes to another store. That’s why Nationwide Marketing Group teamed up with website partners Site on Time (SOT) and Retailer Web Services (RWS) to provide free...
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The Furniture Today Bedding Conference with the Foam Sommelier
What is a foam sommelier? It's a great question and we are so glad you asked. We sat down at the Furniture Today Bedding Conference held this past week in Orlando, Florida with Scott Smalling, Founder of Relief Bed International and more recently, Chief Commercial and Innovation Director for…
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How Are You Helping Customers Get A Better Night’s Sleep?
Consider the sleep disruptors that detract from good quality REM sleep. If you do a proper job of interviewing a person about all of the things standing in the way of a serious log-sawing session, then some of these things will come out. If you’re in a mattress store, maybe they don’t get into it...
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Part Three: Retail Turnover: What Americas Silver Tsunami Means for the Furniture Industry
For years, retail sales associates have been looked down upon—with people calling the position a dead-end job that no one can make a career out of. But anyone in the retail business knows that’s not true. Just look at Broad River Retail, for example. In 2020, Broad River celebrated 51 Million...
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The Secret Code for ‘Health’ in America Should Matter to Mattress Retailers
Ray Kinsley puttered around town in a pearl Buick with a blue top. He drove my grandma to the senior center for lunch each day and to church on Sundays. Along the way he would jump curbs, motor through manicured lawns, bump bumpers, and park on top of the white lines. A string of fender benders...
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3 Mattress Industry Insiders Weigh in on Importance of Memorial Day
If you haven’t started planning Memorial Day, don’t worry, there’s still time. With the holiday coming up in just over a month, The FAM reached out to a few mattress industry executives to see if the holiday is still important and talk about how it’s marketed in the industry.
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New Mattress Shop Finds Success as “Complete Sleep Boutique”
Sometimes the craziest-sounding ideas are the ones that lead to the most success—like quitting your teaching job to open a mattress business during a global pandemic. But Direct Ship Mattress did just that at the end of 2021, and the story that led to the opening is almost as unbelievable as the...
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The Furniture Industry’s Trillion-Dollar Diversity Problem
A quick look at the most current U.S. Census shows that 76% of Americans are White, 13% are Black, and 6% are Asian. That should come as no surprise. But when we think about the furniture industry—which is primarily made up of older White men—is there a disconnect between the people in the C…
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The Rich Will Get Richer And You Need to Target Them
The price index for household furnishings and operations increased 10.1% over the past year—its largest 12-month increase since the period ending July 1975. That’s according to Mattress Industry Consultant and Texan Mattress Owner Lawrence Heilers. So what does that mean? He explains in a recent...
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Are You Really In The Mattress Business?
Are you in the mattress business or are you in the life improvement business? It’s an important distinction because they deliver much different margins and require a different approach in just about every aspect of your business. That’s the topic of an in-depth report The FAM released called “The...
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Big Retailers Are Getting Bigger And It’s Time To Fight Back
It’s not just insecure men who say size matters. In the furniture world, it seems as if big retailers are getting bigger and more successful—and that goes for big box stores, large independent retailers, and more. If that’s the case, is the day looming where Goliath crushes David? Or do smaller...
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Mattress industry audio stories from the world’s first audio-everywhere media hub for the bedding business.
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