Arrogance hurt Sealy on single-sided beds

It's not surprising that Sealy is making a major commitment to single-sided mattresses. Bedding insiders have seen that coming for a long time.

What is surprising is how long it took Sealy to embrace one-sided beds. When Sealy introduces its new single-sided Posturepedic line at the International

Three years in the bedding industry is an eternity.

Simmons has used that time to expand its one-sided offerings and generate considerable momentum for its products. Serta has rolled out a single-sided line that helped it win a coveted Partners in Progress award from Sears. Spring Air jumped on the one-sided bandwagon only months after Simmons' strong start and has enjoyed a booming response to its single-sided beds, which now account for about 80% of Spring Air's total revenues.

While those producers, and others, were making substantial gains in the market, Sealy was knocking single-sided beds, even resorting to some bush-league tactics like raising the issue of a puppy doing something bad on a single-sided bed. Market leaders don't act that way.

Sealy's early, strong opposition to single-sided beds painted the company into a corner that became more and more untenable as its competitors scored with single-sided beds. It also painted an ugly picture of Sealy's arrogance on this issue.

Admittedly, arrogance is a strong word. But a number of bedding observers say it is the word that best describes why a major bedding producer would shun a category that was obviously generating strong consumer response. Sealy didn't want to follow in the footsteps of archrival Simmons, so it simply surrendered business to Simmons and others who have been thriving with single-sided beds.

Ego got in the way of good business.

Now, Sealy says it's listening to the market as it prepares to bring out its new Posturepedic line. But why wasn't it listening in 2000 and 2001 and 2002? The market has been speaking.

Simmons has established a position as a market leader in product innovation, a position it continues to strengthen with each new product rollout. Spring Air showed its nimbleness by bringing out its first single-sided beds a few months after Simmons made its first single-sided move.

Those companies, in particular, are well entrenched in the marketplace with single-sided lines. They have been eating Sealy's lunch. Now the free lunch is over. Sealy says it has done its homework and will assert product leadership in the single-sided arena.

We'll see.