Mattress Firm Plans King-Sized Expansion: CEO
Special to CNBC.com
One year after its initial public offering, Mattress Firm is taking market share and is ready for a king-sized expansion, CEO Stephen Stagner told CNBC Friday.
The mattress seller, which days ago bought competitor Mattress Giant, has seen more people replacing or upgrading their mattresses coming out of the recession, Stagner told Squawk Box.
At the same time, he said Mattress Firm is taking market share in a "fragmented industry" and wants to expand from its current 1,000 stores to 2,500, organically and through acquisitions.
"We're confident we can add 100 stores a year," about two-thirds of them in current markets, the rest in new locations, he said.
And no, he doesn't fear the "Best Buy effect" of people pricing on the Internet, looking at the mattresses in the store and then buying online.
"Keep in mind it’s a $1,000 ticket item, on average," he said of mattresses. "It’s really a touch-and-feel product. You’re going to keep a mattress for probably eight to 10 years and you sleep on it a third of your life. So it’s not something that is easily sold like a book on the Internet."
One of the biggest changes he's faced since going public has been "having to prepare all the reporting and speaking to quite a few new constituents," Stagner said.
But there's a big advantage to being CEO: You get to be the chief mattress tester. Currently he is sleeping on a Tempur-Pedic mattress, he said, but "I have slept on different models. They're all very good."
Questions? Comments? Email us at consumernation@cnbc.com.
