Retail

Online and in-store

Mattress Online won Online Bed Retailer at the 2021 Bed Industry Awards

Steve Adams on agility, understanding customers, supporting suppliers and why he wants physical stores

The past two years has seen enormous growth for Mattress Online (MO). After a fairly stable three years of orders of about 55,000 a year and sales of around £15m, business boomed in 2019/2020 and hasn’t stopped in the past year. Orders in 2019/2020 (to the end of July) jumped to 83,000, with sales of £22.9m as physical stores suffered lockdowns before leaping to 124,000 and £41.5m in 2020/2021, with a 28% increase in profits at £4.1m.

Staff increased by 60% to 68, including the creation of four team leader positions filled by promoting from within, and new head of marketing and finance roles.

‘There has been a marked shift in attitude in shopping online, irrespective of product. That’s certainly going to help us retain first-time customers, and we are one of the leaders in peak delivery and they will remember that. I’m confident of that,’ says Steve Adams, Mattress Online ceo.

When stores re-opened last April, you might have expected MO to see growth slow as consumers returned to trying out mattresses in-store. Not the case. ‘It grew. That completely threw me – the number of orders coming in and the average order value. I didn’t expect that at all. I had a TV campaign over Easter when stores were thinking of re-opening and I thought what a waste of money that was, but it wasn’t. Things stayed steady up until mid-summer – our figures kept getting bigger and bigger. A lot of people then decided: “We don’t want to buy direct online, we want to go to a shop,” so they waited for shops to re-open, perhaps to do their research before buying online. There was a bit of showrooming – we can’t deny that isn’t happening. That’s a challenge for the whole high street.’

Monthly orders dropped slightly to between 10,000 to 11,000 as shoppers waited for Black Friday events (MO operates a Black November

Steve Adams

with the best promotions on the day itself), but Adams predicts there will be no drop in sales.

‘I’m pretty confident that this year we will keep at a minimum of what we did through Covid at a yearly rate – I can’t see us falling back at all. We are trending towards that, but we are doing slightly fewer orders: people are spending more money. We’re doing a better product as well – we recently launched Harrison Spinks and that’s working really well. We’re getting more revenue for less work, and we’re moving away from the more volume-driven bottom end. We’ll leave it to Argos to pick up that sort of business.’

While average order values have been increasing in recent years, increased costs have played a part in the past year as manufacturers saw raw material prices leap. ‘We have been very transparent in passing on our costs to consumers. We have maintained our margin. It’s about 50% costs and 50% trading up, and the average for the past month was £400,’ he says.

MO increased its stock holding to £6.5m to meet demand and at the height of the pandemic it began paying its suppliers in advance. ‘It was a win–win as we wanted to secure supply. Supply was very limited – some suppliers couldn’t afford to buy the components to make our product. So that was a real triumph: we had guaranteed supply. One factory gave us a whole day of their production every week, which was great for us. We were sat on 15,000 mattresses when lockdown hit and we managed to maintain supply – the lowest we got was 6,000 – by doing things like this and picking up production slots that other retailers couldn’t make use of as they were shut. Manufacturers lost a lot of their income overnight as the bigger players just weren’t buying. It put us in good stead with our suppliers. And I’d do it again. We’ve got the cashflow ready.’

All but 10% of MO’s products are National Bed Federation approved; 70% of its best converting brands are NBF members and the top 10 reviewed brands are NBF members. ‘We have one supplier who is really good and isn’t NBF accredited and we won’t consider taking another UK manufacturer that isn’t NBF accredited. It’s very reassuring to know the due diligence and audit processes they have to go through and that we don’t need to worry about that.’

For MO, research into customers and not-quite-customers is vital. Shoppers are sent a post-purchase survey asking about their experience. ‘We are always trying to get data on what we could do better and better understanding of the demographics. We are a relatively small company in a massive bed and mattress market so we need to punch above our weight. We have to find out what we need to do to compete with the likes of Dreams and Bensons for Beds, who have a big command of brand awareness. It’s really hard communicating the products when you can’t get close to matching that, so to find out what our customers want and what we could do better the only way to get an answer is to ask.’

The company unveiled a rebrand in November, and researched customers who didn’t make a purchase. ‘Instead of re-targeting them with an advert to buy from us, we targeted them for information, saying: “You’ve been to our website, you didn’t buy, what did you want? We’d love to chat to you.” We gave them an Amazon voucher if they agreed to be interviewed. We had a massive response and got so much data. Our user experience programme takes those lessons and we think about how to change content, how we describe things.

‘One thing that came through strongly was that they are confused by the bed industry as a whole. Because it’s such an infrequent purchase they have to re-educate themselves every time they come back into that purchase

In July the company appointed Tracey Browne as its Workplace Sleep Ambassador, as part of its involvement with The Sleep Charity

time. Manufacturers have their own trademark names for a spring system and customers don’t get what is going on.

‘And on foam we have lots of different names for essentially the same comfort layer. They are confused by names: different retailers will call the same mattress by a different name. Customers aren’t silly, they know it’s the same, and when we create that friction against purchasing they just go away. There is no easy answer. It’s an industry-wide problem and it’s how we communicate with customers.

‘Our customer base changes on a regular basis. Through Covid, the average age has increased and there is a different tone of voice, a different language to a Millennial. That’s hard in terms of writing one description, when you have trade terminology and are trying to turn that into consumer terminology. The average consumer has no idea what a tuft is, for example. That’s the sort of language we get from our manufacturers, but we’re guilty as well: we use it and don’t explain. But customers want to know why it’s there, not what it’s called, and if we don’t explain we’ll never win that customer over. The harder we make it for them, the more difficult it is for us.

‘There’s too much choice as well. We have 180 SKUs on our website, all in stock – arguably too many for the customer to make an informed choice. But they all sell. We are going through a process of trying to trim the product line, but it’s not easy to identify why one product works and another one is also working when they look identical.

‘The bed-in-a-box manufacturers and retailers have done a great job of demystifying that and putting it into consumer language. They’re still learning how to make money from it but they’ve done a brilliant job of raising awareness in our market. They’ve hit the nail on the head as to what consumers want. They don’t want the confusion – they just want to be told: this is the best mattress in the world and this is why it is and we’ll make it really easy for you to buy.

‘They are disrupting what is quite a traditional industry. We’re doing disruption but in a slightly different manner. We’re still buyers in the background, but with a digital front. We know product and we know the manufacturers, which is still quite traditional as a company. But we are very much a technology-driven

Mattress Online is sponsoring EFL team Lincoln City this season and rebranded in November

company, rather than a bed retailer. We are an ecommerce business that just happens to be selling beds.’

MO plans to open a string of physical stores. ‘It’s a personal passion of mine,’ says Adams. ‘I still believe in bricks-andmortar retail, which I know sounds alien from someone who has been doing online retail for 18 years. But there are a lot of good businesses out there, and I have one store myself [in Rotherham] and I can see how well it works and how the two are joined, the online and offline, and we’ve got 50% to 60% of the online offer in-store. It works really well and is convenient for the consumer.

‘I just see these independent stores that are struggling and closing, and they have great staff, really knowledgeable staff that can feed into our telesales environment. We have phones that ring around everyone in the business, which means each customer is speaking to a seasoned salesperson who also sells direct to the consumer on the shopfloor with real product. That makes us so different to someone like Wayfair, where staff are in a call centre. It’s actually a different language the customer hears from a real bed salesperson, who can lie on the bed if they want to while talking to the customer on their headset.

‘These are good businesses that will add value to my business. It’s a safe way for us to expand. We know what we do, we know the product and we have the buying power and the logistics to feed that into a next-day delivery service. That’s something the high street can’t do and if we can put that power back into the high street, local ecommerce and commerce is going to have a resurgence. I’m less convinced big retail parks will be so strong in five years, but quality local independents that have a reputation… there is a lot of value in those businesses.

‘I’d like to get a good proportion of the country covered, but we can probably do that over the next 10 years with 25 stores, including independent stores where we will change the name. Our target areas are where we don’t have much online penetration. It’s a personal belief that there is a lot of money on the table in physical retail if it’s done right.

‘One thing I do like is disruption, challenges. We are a very agile team, we are a low-bureaucracy, low-hierarchy organisation. We can adapt very quickly, as we did through Covid. On day one we switched our delivery profile to focus on delivering the bigger, heavier mattresses – we did that overnight, we changed the algorithm so everything that was a twoman was put right to the centre of the website and that’s what we sold, in case we later couldn’t deliver it to people’s homes. We didn’t want to be sitting on a lot of big, heavy stock we couldn’t sell.

‘That’s the organisation you need to react to changing retail environments. I hate meetings.’ Visit: www.mattressonline.co.uk

Prestige Century Oak laminate Prestige Dusky Grey Oak laminate

Flooring bestsellers

The trends dominating non-carpet flooring in 2021

With so many flooring products, styles, colours, tones and effects to choose from, homeowners have never had it so good – but what were the bestsellers of 2021? Factory Direct Flooring (FDF) reveals the trends that dominated the flooring space in 2021, and provides the firm’s bestselling product lists across popular flooring categories.

While green may have been hailed as the new grey for the decor colour of 2021, when it came to flooring, grey definitely held its ground. FDF’s sales highlighted that grey remained a key colour, consistently dominating sales, and peaking in the spring. It was the most purchased flooring colour across laminate, LVT and vinyl.

With those homeowners seeking longevity of style or a more traditional look, medium oak remained a strong choice – with steady sales throughout the year. White made a strong appearance as a bestseller through summer and autumn, particularly in the vinyl category.

As 2021 was cited to be the year of ‘japandi’ schemes – where Japanese minimalist and Scandi tones combine – this could well have been a driver in the sales of light hues.

LVT has been a popular choice of flooring product in recent years, according to FDF, with a proliferation of DIY plank options. In 2021, while LVT saw consistent sales, laminate and vinyl also enjoyed strong sales – but in the second half of the year vinyl saw significant growth, overtaking laminate sales by a considerable margin. Sales were heavily biased towards wood effects, with medium oak and grey wood being the top sellers.

‘The growth in sales of vinyl was really quite remarkable and unusual for us, as we’ve historically seen higher sales of alternative products. As a result of this popularity, we’ve more than tripled our vinyl stock holding. It’s a great, budgetfriendly option and can present fewer challenges in installation, both of which may be contributory factors in the popularity of the product this year,’ says Paul Hambidge, FDF md.

‘We must also consider the fact that homeowners these days may be likely to refresh their decor and flooring more often, and so rather than investing in higher cost products with a view to keeping them for longer, they may be tempted to go for options they can afford to update more frequently.

‘Additionally, vinyl flooring manufacturers are always the first in the flooring industry to bring out the most up-to-date designs and colours.’

Wide planks remained popular for a time, offering the ability to achieve a spacious look with fewer joins. But a trend that dominated 2020 and has continued throughout 2021 is the herringbone style. Herringbone styles, according to FDF, saw exponential growth in 2020. While this didn’t continue at the same rate in 2021, the consistency of purchase shows herringbone is surely here to stay. Visit: www.factory-direct-flooring.co.uk

Prestige Silver Oak laminate

Aqua Plank Shadow Grey

FACTORY DIRECT FLOORING 2021 TOP 20 BESTSELLERS

1 Prestige 7mm Dusky Grey Oak laminate 3532 2 Prestige Century Oak Grey 7mm laminate 4175 3 Ecostep Storm Grey 991M LVT 4 Prestige Plus 12mm Silver Oak Plank laminate 3900 5 Ecostep Rustic Oak 606M LVT 6 Plain Colours Solid White 000S LVT 7 Aqua Plank Shadow Grey Click LVT 8 Ecostep 892 Noblesse vinyl 9 Aqua Plank Fossil Grey LVT 10 Prestige White Oak 8mm laminate 3201 11 Ecostep Grey Chic 977M vinyl 12 Ecostep Mist White 009S vinyl 13 Prestige Classic 6mm Oak Light

Grey laminate 3904 14 Prestige Oak Grey 8mm laminate 4175 15 Prestige Herringbone Faded Oak 8mm laminate 3678 16 Ecostep Noblesse 1892 vinyl 17 Ecostep 793 Alba vinyl 18 Ecostep Pale Shadow 741M vinyl 19 Prestige Natural Oak 7mm laminate 3903 20 Plain Colours Solid Grey 910M vinyl

2021 TOP 10 BESTSELLING LAMINATE PRODUCTS

1 Prestige 7mm Dusky Grey Oak 3532 2 Prestige Century Oak Grey 7mm

V-Groove Click 4175 3 Prestige Plus 12mm Silver Oak

Plank AC4 Click 3900 4 Prestige White Oak 8mm

V-Groove 3201 5 Prestige Classic 6mm Oak Light

Grey 3904 6 Prestige Oak Grey 8mm V-Groove 4175 

Aqua Plank Cool White Oak

Aqua Plank Fossil Grey Click Vinyl

Abbey Cervara Oak Matt Lacquer

7 Prestige Herringbone Faded Oak 8mm 3678 8 Prestige Natural Oak 7mm V-Groove

Click 3903 9 Prestige Classic White Oak 6mm 3201 10 Prestige Plus 12mm Mocha

Rustic Oak AC5 Click 4731

2021 TOP 10 BESTSELLING LVT PRODUCTS

1 Aqua Plank Shadow Grey 2 Aqua Plank Fossil Grey 3 Aqua Plank Cool White Oak 4 Aqua Plank Ultra Original Oak 5 Aqua Plank Traditional Oak

Herringbone 6 Aqua Plank Pumice Oak 7 Aqua Plank Loft Oak Click 8 Aqua Plank Urban Oak Click 9 Aqua Plank Acacia Oak Click 10 Aqua Plank Shore Oak Herringbone

2021 TOP 10 BESTSELLING ENGINEERED WOOD PRODUCTS

1 Abbey Cervara 14mm Oak Matt

Lacquer 2 Herringbone Parquet 18mm Natural

Oak Brushed Oiled 3 Abbey Sawtry 14mm Oak Brushed

Matt Lacquer 4 Abbey Kintbury 14mm Golden Oak

Matt Lacquer 5 Abbey Torre 14mm Coffee Oak

Brushed Matt Lacquer 6 Herringbone Parquet 18mm Natural

Oak Brushed Matt Lacquer 7 Abbey Delapre 14mm Coffee Ash

Matt Lacquer 8 Abbey Kempton 20mm Brushed

UV Oiled Oak 9 Frankton Oak Matt Lacquer 10 Abbey Sarlat 20mm Golden Oak

Brushed Matt Lacquer

2021 TOP 10 BESTSELLING VINYL PRODUCTS

1 Ecostep Storm Grey 991M 2 Ecostep Rustic Oak 606M 3 Plain Colours Solid White 4 Ecostep 892 Noblesse 5 Ecostep Grey Chic 977M 6 Ecostep Mist White 009S 7 Ecostep Noblesse 1892 8 Ecostep 793 Alba 9 Ecostep Pale Shadow 741M 10 Plain Colours Solid Grey 910M

Herringbone Parquet Natural Oak

Ecostep Storm Grey Abbey Sawtry Oak

Ecostep Rustic Oak

Plain Colours Solid White