Furniture Today’s recent online Bedding Conference offered attendees the chance to go back later and watch any sessions they may have missed the first time.
That’s been a much-used feature of the conference, with our Top 10 sessions generating a total of more than 1,000 on demand views.
Leading the pack is Mike Magnuson’s presentation, “Welcome to the Omni-Channel World: The New Rules of Engagement.” Magnuson, the CEO of independent mattress information source GoodBed.com, always gets top scores at our Bedding Conferences, where he has been a fixture over the years.
Among his intriguing points: The COVID-19 pandemic sparked a major shift in consumers’ willingness to buy a mattress without trying it in a store. That figure, which had been in the 40% to 45% range in recent years, briefly rose to more than 70% earlier this year, before settling in at about 53%, 10 percentage points higher than before.
Needless to say, it’s extremely significant that more than half of consumers now say they are willing to buy a mattress without trying it first in a store. If that view holds over time, it should provide an important long-term boost to the online category.
Magnuson also had a sobering warning about the growing competitive threat that mattress review sites pose to mattress retailers.
On demand interest also has been high in our bedding producer panel, which featured comments by Melanie Huet of Serta Simmons Bedding, Gerry Borreggine of Therapedic, David Binke of King Koil and Mike McQuiston of Symbol.
Of special note on that panel was the talk about pent-up demand, which Borreggine said has been the “creation of big brands” over the years hoping to get retailers to increase their inventories but is now a very real thing during the pandemic. Huet said pent-up demand will continue to give the industry a boost for some time to come.
Business analyst Gene Marks was another popular on-demand speaker. His talk was packed with practical insights and suggestions for analysts to follow. The economy will recover, Marks predicted, but he admitted no one knows exactly when that recovery will unfold. He pointed out several business opportunities created by the pandemic.
Another popular on-demand session was presented by marketing guru Warren Kornblum, who talked about the importance of more out-of-the-box thinking. He said there will be life after the pandemic and said the industry must begin preparing for that time.
It’s interesting how the pandemic has affected our industry. After the first big shutdown in the economy, bedding sales have recovered, and business is now strong across the industry. Online sales have increased, and that shift in consumers’ willingness to buy a mattress without trying it in a store suggests more blue water ahead for online mattress retailers.
If you want to revisit any of those top-rated sessions, you’ve still got a few days to do so. Our on-demand viewing is offered through Sept. 18.
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