ALEXANDRIA, Va.–The latest sales data from the International Sleep Products Association show that mattress manufacturers are still struggling.
Unit sales of mattresses and foundations dropped 4.6 percent in the first quarter, compared with the first quarter of last year, according to ISPA’s Bedding Barometer. Wholesale dollar sales fell 6 percent, and the average unit selling price for the mattresses sold in the first quarter slipped by 1.4 percent from the first quarter of 2007.
In March alone, ISPA said, both mattress units and dollars plummeted by 10.7 percent from March of last year. “So far,” the association said, “conditions in 2008 continue to be among the worst in recent memory.”