As we approach Black Friday and the holiday season, big name brands not only ready themselves to offer their customers big savings but prepare for the influx of both sales and returns of comfort night guarantee mattresses. While returns are an inevitable part of the retail landscape, they can put a significant strain on a retailer’s finances, costing up to £60 million each year, as well as responsibilities in terms of sustainability.
Within the world of sleep retail, this has been a costly problem both economically and environmentally. Retailers may be unaware of viable rejuvenation methods, with vast amounts of nearly new mattresses either sent to landfill or to auction to recoup minimal amounts from the commodity.
TFR Group is already combatting this serious problem head-on with a one-of-a-kind mattress rejuvenation process. Urging retailers to partner with them to stop this damaging waste stream and recoup the significant losses faced from returned comfort night guarantee mattresses.
The Retail Landscape: Understanding the Surge in Returns
A Culture of Comfortable Returns
The modern consumer has developed a post-purchase behaviour that includes convenient returns. With nearly 17% of all purchases being returned in 2021, this trend has shown no sign of slowing down. This trend carries forward into sleep retail too. With many brands now offering generous ‘comfort night guarantees’, consumers can test mattresses for up to 200 days as it can take a while to get used to a new one, and easily return it if it does not suit their needs – TFR Group calls it “The Goldilocks Effect”. Understanding this shift in consumer behaviour is crucial for retailers seeking to adapt to the changing landscape.
Sale Seasons = Return Seasons
The holiday season is significant not just for retailers, but recycling and rejuvenation specialists like TFR Group. Following January and spring sales, summer offers, and major events like Black Friday, Cyber Monday, pre-Christmas deals, and Boxing Day sales, discounts on high-value items such as mattresses lead to a significant increase in returns. In fact, 143 percent more items are being returned on December 3rd than on any other date in the year due to impulse buying on Black Friday.
While the profit from sales periods far outweigh the losses for retailers, the opportunity to reduce the loss of income from mattresses is not being fully realised.
The Burden Faced by Retailers
Each year UK mattress retailers offering comfort night guarantees receive 600,000 returns of nearly new mattresses. This high return volume brings with it a substantial financial burden, with retailers facing the cost of production, delivery, refund and disposal for every mattress returned.
Annually retailers are facing up to £60 million in losses from mattress returns alone, and without rejuvenation this is a significant loss of revenue, especially when there are viable options to create a secondary source of income through mattress rejuvenation.
The Potential of Mattress Rejuvenation
Mattress rejuvenation is a game-changer in the bed industry. This innovative process provides retailers with the opportunity to rejuvenate what was previously deemed waste.
Using innovative technology, TFR Group uses a combination of multiple processes including the use of atomised peracetic acids and UV sterilisation to ensure rejuvenated mattresses are meeting the highest standard of sanitisation.
Returns Retain Value
Within sleep retail any returned mattresses were deemed as waste or resold at auction for very little, as companies did not have the ability to rejuvenate them back to standards that truly reflect the brands’ high quality. With TFR Group offering rejuvenation services, it opens up an opportunity to recoup the loss.
With nearly one-third of losses recovered, equating to approximately £17.2 million this transformative approach has not only reduced waste but also reduced financial loss.
New Product Lines
Beyond recouping losses, rejuvenating can open doors to diversified product offerings. Big name retailers now offer rejuvenated mattresses at reduced prices which has seen huge demand from customers, with 40% embracing the trend of purchasing second-hand or refurbished goods.
Implementation and Partnership
In mattress rejuvenation transparency is key. Whether you work with experts or establish in-house operations, a transparent approach is vital.
At TFR Group, our rejuvenation process focuses on transparency and trust. We use unique IDs and photos for retailers to quantitatively assess each step of the journey, ensuring transparency and traceability. Live online portals and pass/fail measures keep retailers informed and set new standards for service quality.
Quality assurance is a must, with our rejuvenation system restoring mattresses to NHS standards it helps build better customer trust when purchasing a pre-loved mattress. Big name retailers are already starting to implement pre-loved mattresses into their business model and witnessing these product lines thriving in the current market. Highlighting the sustainability, quality, and value will aid in building trust and assurance.
Conclusion
In this day and age it has been proven to be more beneficial for retails to shift their outlook on returns. With rejuvenation options available there is an opportunity to transform returns from losses to revenue. Rejuvenation presents a dual benefit. With nearly a third of losses recovered through rejuvenation, it not only recoups financial losses but also significantly reduces waste and lowers carbon emissions.
To find out more on how rejuvenation can recoup losses from comfort night guarantee returns, click here.
