1-800 reaches consumers 3 ways

Long Island City, N.Y.— 1-800-Mattress, which got its start by pioneering telephone sales of bedding, has found success with a calls-clicks-and-bricks strategy.

It is one of relatively few bedding retailers to develop an integrated business strategy in which each of those channels plays

Telephone calls to the company's powerful 1-800-Mattress number today account for more than 60% of the company's total sales. Internet sales from the company's equally powerful domain name — mattress.com — account for 5% of total sales. That leaves about one-third of the company's business coming from its 44 showrooms and its growing network of dealers.

But many of those in-store sales were sparked by referrals from Internet or telephone inquiries. That illustrates the power of the company's business plan, according to Napoleon Barragan, founder and CEO.

About 40% of all bedding shoppers want to lie down on a bed and test it out before they buy, he said. That figure is on track with the experience at 1-800-Mattress.

The consumers who buy online or on the telephone share some common characteristics, Barragan said. They tend to be busy consumers who understand the efficiencies of buying through these channels.

The Internet purchasers "do a lot of research online," said Joe Vicens, executive vice president of 1-800-Mattress. "They get a lot of information from our Web sites."

With a good-as-gold domain name of mattress.com , the company gets heavy Internet traffic — 15,000 unique visitors each day.

About half of those Internet visitors started out doing research online, but wound up buying from the company.

Telephone traffic is also strong: the 1-800 number draws about 3,000 callers per day.

About 40% of the Internet and telephone visitors are looking for a retailer where they can try out a mattress. That's one of the reasons why the company is looking to partner with retailers around the country who can service the consumers who have already started the shopping process by contacting 1-800-Mattress.

The pitch to retailers is this: "By becoming a 1-800-Mattress partner, our call center and Web site can drive business directly to your door, increasing your market share and profit dollars in record time!"

The company knows that some consumers want to try out a mattress before they purchase. It also knows that it has a potential opportunity in the consumers who have begun the mattress shopping — or at least the mattress research — phase.

With only 44 stores in the country, primarily in New York but also in Connecticut, California, New Jersey and Maryland, 1-800-Mattress simply isn't in a position to serve a large number of the consumers who contact the company and want to physically see or feel a mattress before they make a purchase. That's why it is looking for retailers of any type around the country to partner with the company.

"It's a simple formula," 1-800-Mattress says. "Our customers plus your store equals more sales."

One key to the integrated marketing strategy is that the company has the same selling price for its bedding in all its sales channels. "The fact that we have a uniform price is important," Vicens said. "We cater to the convenience of the consumer, whether she comes to us through the Internet, the telephone or our stores. She still walks out with the same deal."

The company had total sales of $87 million last year.