Page 43 - NECO News

Changing the Mattress Buying Experience: The Serta Connection
S ERTA’S RETAIL CONCEPTS GROUP, aiming to improve the mattress buying experience, has developed a high- tech shopping process designed to better connect with consumers.
“Our goal was to change the consumers experience from a negative one to a posi- tive one,” said Keith Mackey, director of the Retail Concepts Group.
Keith visited mattress retailers far and wide to gain insights on how the shop- ping experience could be improved. “We wanted to get the customer more actively
involved in the decision process in a scientific way.”
Keith and the team at Serta were in search of finding the right tool to improve the mattress buying experience - for both the consumer and the dealer. The Serta Connection Showroom has done just that.
The Serta Connection, uses cutting edge technology to help consumers find a mattress that fits their body type and sleep positions.
“The Serta Connection is a consumer friendly process that the consumer will
want to interact with,” explained Keith. The consumer starts first in Serta’s proprietary “comfortpoint” theater. Cus- tomers lie down and are fitted for their pillow from a nearby pillow bar finding the pillow suited to their sleep position. Comfort preferences for the mattress are established as the sales associate varies the comfort level on the “comfortpoint discovery system” using the adjustable air chambers to change the feel.
An overhead display shows real- time pressure mapping profiles of the customer’s body in the privacy of the theater. “Pressure circles” are displayed on an outline of the customer’s body, indicating the amount of pressure exerted on each of 4,000+ sensors that exist across the surface of the mattress (the larger the circle, the more pressure exerted). While still lying down, the customer is asked additional questions regarding their unique sleep habits and issues, and further personalized results are provided.
Once the comfort preferences are identified, the customer is then directed to the sales floor to try out a mattress that has been determined to fit their unique profile.
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Industry News
The Discovery Center is a fun and interactive way to learn about The Serta Connection Showroom.
• The left panel helps lay out the process and technology behind the Serta Connection.
• The center panel allows you to experience Comfortpoint’s pressure-sensing technology.
• The right panel shows examples of our iComfort, iComfort hybrid, and the Perfect Sleeper mattress types. • This allows you to touch, feel and see the latest in mattress technologies.