Bedding specialty stores remain on the ascent, furniture stores continue to lose ground, and the direct-to-consumer channel is gaining share, according to Furniture/Today’s exclusive 2015 Bedding Distribution Report.

Those are some of the key findings in Furniture/Today’s latest look at bedding distribution channels, a report the newspaper updates every two years. The new report, which provides an overview of the mattress retail landscape as it stood at the end of 2014, confirms industry thinking that online bedding retailers are gaining ground in the $14.2 billion retail bedding arena.

The exclusive 2015 Bedding Distribution Report breaks retail bedding distribution into seven channels: Bedding specialty stores, furniture stores, department stores, direct-to-consumer, warehouse clubs, “other,” and factory direct.

The 2015 report documents the positions the channels occupied at the end of 2014. Figures are based on 2014 retail sales of traditional and specialty bedding sleep sets.

Channel estimates are derived from a three-part analysis.  Furniture/Today examines bedding revenues for the leading retailers. Sources include the ranking of the Top 25 U.S. Bedding Retailers, the Top 100 U.S. Furniture Stores and the Beyond the Top 100 list of furniture retailers, as well as reports on the performance of public and private companies in each of those channels. Secondly, Furniture/Today reviews consumer purchase data from its exclusive 2015 Consumer Buying Trends Survey. Finally, the newspaper asks Top 15 bedding producers to provide confidential estimates on the market share held by each of the distribution channels, and to provide public comments on key developments in those channels.

The 2015 Bedding Distribution Report was compiled and analyzed by Executive Editor David Perry and Director of Research Dana French.

For the complete report. see the 21 Sept. 2015 print issue of Furniture/Today, or click here for the exclusive online edition.