What’s the top profit driver for Walmart? It’s not bicycles or big-screen TVs. It’s [gulp] mattresses and furniture.
It seems like all the chain retailers sell furniture and mattresses these days. Target, TJ Maxx, and Lowes all have fully-stocked home furnishings sections, and on a recent earnings call, Walmart divulged how important this category is to its business. Their furniture and mattress business is their top profit driver on walmart.com.
From the call: “Our furniture and mattress business, for example, continues to be one of our top profit-driving categories across walmart.com, and it continues to grow. And we’ve seen a multiplying effect for things like accessories. Customers who buy mattresses from walmart.com are more likely to buy a mattress cover or sheets in the store. We put new emphasis on building out a trusted world-class marketplace business that dramatically expands our product and services. We’ve got a lot of momentum. And we plan to accelerate it through strategic partnerships with Shopify, ChannelAdvisor, and PayPal. And we’re working with [a] team on an international platform to reach customers and sellers outside the U.S.”
With big-box companies like Wal-Mart and Amazon attacking our category so aggressively, it’s more important than ever to lean into your strengths as a local retailer. If your consumers love your business, they will pick you over the competition.
Wal-Mart tends to go big or go home, so we expect their furniture and mattress sales to continue increasing. But hey, at least you know your competition.
If you want more information on how to build your store traffic and create a strong preference for your business, check out the book “Come Back to Bed: Attract More Foot Traffic and Make People Fall in Love with Your Store” by Dos Marcos.
