Highgrove Beds will use the upcoming January Furniture Show this spring as a launchpad for several new products, ranging from innovative and upgraded mattress specifications to improved stylish base options, all available with exclusive show offers …
A new celebratory mattress called Majesty will feature strongly on the stand. Designed to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee this year, Majesty comes with high-impact PoS and the opportunity for a lucky retailer and consumer to win “a royal weekend in London”. And, for every Majesty mattress sold this year, Highgrove will also plant a tree donated through the National Trust’s tree-planting scheme.
Highgrove has taken additional space in Hall 5, with its new Sanctum Collection being unveiled for the first time on stand F20. Sanctum will benefit from new covers, with a focus on luxurious natural fillings and hand-tailored comfort.
“It’s great to be getting back to some form of normality after the challenges of the past 18 months or so,” says head of marketing, Shane Harding. “Those of us that love this industry really enjoy meeting customers and having the opportunity to showcase our latest products and promotions.
“2021 was particularly challenging for many reasons, with material price increases and shortages affecting all UK manufacturers. The fact is that we’ve all got used to virtually zero inflation and prices that have been stable for years – we’re now all faced with raw material and component prices being increased, often with little or no warning.”
Despite this, Highgrove remains confident in its UK operation, investing a further £500,000 in a new 25,000 sqft storage facility at its Liversedge site (completed during lockdown) to ensure the business has sufficient spring stocks to meet future demand.
A further £800,000 has been invested in new vehicles with improved driver facilities, and these will make an appearance this month.
Shane is also confident that the business will continue to take market share, despite what is acknowledged as one of the toughest retail environments in many years.
“We have now firmly bedded our three main brands into the marketplace: HG at the entry level; our established flagship Highgrove brand taking up the centre ground; and Sanctum targeting the premium, hand-tailored sector.”
In recent years, Highgrove has invested more than £600,000 in supporting high street retailers with high-impact in-store displays and additional PoS, which includes branded footmats and pillowcases, and these have proved “extremely popular” with stockists, says the bedmaker.
Finally, although the internet plays an increasingly important role in consumer decisionmaking, Highgrove made the tactical (and commercial) decision to support the high street, and its brochure collection is strictly not available for internet trading. “We feel that consumers still want to try before they buy, and although internet sales continue to outpace retail, high-ticket comfort items will still be primarily sold in-store for many years to come – and that should be encouraged,” Shane concludes.
Find Highgrove on stands 5-E20 and 5-F20 at the postponed January Furniture Show, taking place at the Birmingham NEC from 24-27th April 2022.
