Mattress Maven on Top
Ken Green has maximized sales through the pandemic, controlling what’s in stock in stores as well as e-commerce in revolutionary mattress trends.
After 37 years with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and now with the AJT, , Jaffe’s focus is lifestyle, art, dining, fashion, and community events with emphasis on Jewish movers and shakers.
Ken Green operates Save Big Mattress in Smyrna and Riverdale and recently took the leap to add online sales in heavy ticket items to his business model. “E-commerce has a lot of moving parts in almost another world of retailing, which I had to get my arms around: How to balance someone walking into a store and talking to a live person versus typing it in on the computer and ‘bingo!’”
Green, who has an MBA in finance from New York University, initially went with Amazon, which approached him to sell his electric/adjustable beds. Then Green took the leap. “I learned a ton from them, but decided to do it myself, and now have 10 websites in addition to the stores.” As one of the largest dealers in Georgia, Green now oversees a mix of 80 percent retail, 20 percent e-commerce.
Green is a licensed Sealy and Sterns & Foster dealer, in addition to many other brands.
Adjustable beds, also known as “power bases,” are changing the industry. He also sells traditional box springs, weaving around a shortage of wood and the scarcity of some materials such as foam during the pandemic. During COVID, people invested in improving their home living spaces, while Green managed to keep a healthy inventory (800 to 1,000 at any one time) to arrange a quick delivery.
An expert marketer, Green extols many innovations and trends. “There are all sorts of high-tech options to consider in buying a mattress: copper infusion, which some tout as antimicrobial, with cooling and health benefits. Bamboo materials, which wick moisture. There are high risers and some with storage underneath. Hybrids are very popular now with the bottom half traditional coils and the top half memory foam.”
He concludes, “Bottom line, we are winning in this industry.” Joking, he adds, “Note that we are currently sold out of a hybrid bed made with CBD oil.”
comments