Bed Bath & Beyond and Casper announced a new national partnership that brings the mattress company’s suite of sleep offerings to the Bed Bath & Beyond website and mobile app, and in select Bed Bath & Beyond stores. As part of the partnership, Casper will open its first branded shop at Bed Bath & Beyond’s newly designed flagship store in New York City, which reopened July 22 after undergoing a substantial renovation.
The Casper branded shop will include the company’s new Cooling Collection, a line of cooling products developed to minimize nighttime overheating. In addition to the flagship store located at 620 6th Avenue in New York City, Bed Bath & Beyond’s store in the city’s Tribeca neighborhood and in Bridgewater, N.J., carry Casper products.
Casper products will become available at additional Bed Bath & Beyond locations across the U.S. in the coming months. In addition to in-store purchasing, Casper products are carried on the store’s website with in-store pick-up or home delivery.
“Casper is an ideal complement to our bedding collection, which now feature high-quality and affordable items from our Nestwell, Wild Sage and Simply Essential line of owned brands,” said Joe Hartsig, EVP and chief merchandising officer, Bed Bath & Beyond, and president of Harmon Stores. “We’re proud that Casper’s first shop-in-shop will be inside our flagship store, and look forward to together serving New Yorkers and all omni-channel customers.”
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“It’s an honor to bring the unique Casper shopping experience and latest sleep solutions with Snow Technology to a legacy retailer that shares our mission of helping millions of people achieve a more comfortable night’s sleep, and we’re excited for the significant opportunities this partnership will create,” said Emilie Arel, president and chief commercial officer at Casper.
The Casper full product assortment features mattresses and sleep accessories, such as pillows, sheets and lighting.
In addition to the Casper partnership, Bed Bath & Beyond recently fielded its “The Way We Nest” study, which found that approximately 80 percent of Americans surveyed say their bed is their happy place and 76 percent view the bedroom as their sanctuary. In response, the company launched its “Nestwell to Rest Well Guide,” an interactive tool that assists customers shopping for bedding and also includes design tips for styling a bed by interior designers at Decorist, as well as advice from sleep wellness expert, Dr. Shelby Harris.
MattressFirm launches better sleep campaign
Mattress retailer Mattress Firm announced the launch of its Junk Sleep campaign, one of the largest brand marketing efforts in the company’s 90-year history, dedicated to shedding light on the nation’s “junk sleep” problem.
The company defines “junk sleep” as tossing and turning, restless sleep. According to research from Mattress Firm strategic partner SleepScore Labs, 68 percent of Americans are sleeping less than the recommended seven hours per night, amounting to 74 billion hours of lost sleep per year.
“It’s time people start putting the same value on sleeping as they do on eating well and exercising,” said John Eck, president and chief executive officer for Mattress Firm. “This campaign challenges the conventions of modern sleep culture by being open and honest about the importance of adequate, quality rest. And it does so with optimism and playful humor that’s very much in line with our brand.”
The company kicked off the initiative with an ad spot during the Olympic opening games featuring actor Liev Schreiber, and launched a multi-city bus tour, a sweepstakes and a brand ambassador campaign featuring Olympic gold medalist Gabby Douglas.
Tempur Sealy reports quarterly earnings increase
Mattress producer Tempur Sealy reported an increase in total net sales, among other gains, for the second quarter. The company also issued updated financial guidance for the full year 2021 that reflects the improved business trends and the acquisition of Dreams, which is scheduled to close in early August.
Total net sales increased 75.8 percent to $1,169.1 million as compared to $665.2 million in the second quarter of 2020. On a constant currency basis, total net sales increased 72.6 percent, with an increase of 73.8 percent in the North America business segment and an increase of 64.5 percent in the International business segment.
Gross margin was 44.3 percent as compared to 40.0 percent in the second quarter of 2020. Adjusted gross margin was 40.6 percent in the second quarter of 2020. There were no adjustments to gross margin in the second quarter of 2021.
Operating income increased 318.2 percent to $223.3 million as compared to $53.4 million in the second quarter of 2020. Adjusted operating income increased 191.7 percent to $227.2 million as compared to $77.9 million in the second quarter of 2020.
Net income increased 512.2 percent to $140.8 million as compared to $23.0 million in the second quarter of 2020. Adjusted net income increased 294.9 percent to $161.5 million as compared to $40.9 million in the second quarter of 2020.
“Our investments and strategies to strengthen the long-term growth potential of Tempur Sealy continue to enhance our competitive position,” said chairman and CEO Scott Thompson. “This quarter we were pleased to report global sales growth of 62 percent compared to 2019, a base year unaffected by COVID. We were especially pleased with our double-digit global web sales growth this quarter verses second quarter 2020 which grew over 125 percent versus the prior year when traditional retail stores were impacted by COVID.”
However, “We achieved these results despite significant supply chain issues that are constraining the entire bedding industry,” Thompson told analysts on a conference call. “These issues limited our ability to fully meet strong demand for our products and are expected to continue to impact our sales potential through the third quarter of 2021.”
Chief financial officer Bhaskar Rao noted that “inbound and outbound freight worsened” during the quarter, forcing Tempur Sealy to “turn away new North American customers and have our existing customers on allocation, including our own online and retail operations.”
Rao added that Tempur operations had been “largely unaffected” by the supply chain constraints prior to the quarter, “due to our robust inventory of finished goods and raw materials, including chemicals.” He estimates that supply-chain challenges cost the company $150 million in sales.