Who Doesn't Love A Good Mattress?

ShopLocal.com Predicts Big Things in the Bedroom This Valentine's Day

CHICAGO – February 6, 2006 – ShopLocal.com, the leading provider of both in-store sale information and e-commerce options from the nation’s top retailers, predicts a large increase in the number of mattresses researched and sold online this Valentine’s Day. This prediction takes into account recently released 2005 visitor data, consumer trends away from “typical” Valentine’s Day gifts, and the shift to the Web as a tool for locating bedroom furniture and accessories.

A look at the top search terms on ShopLocal.com from the two-week period leading up to last year’s Valentine’s Day holiday indicates consumers are taking their relationships to the next level on the second-biggest retail holiday of the year – and going beyond traditional Valentine’s Day gifts like chocolates and jewelry.

ShopLocal.com data shows that “Plasma” was the most-searched term during the 2005 Valentine’s Day shopping season, February 1 through February 14. “Furniture” was the next most-searched term. But as a sign that perhaps consumers do begin feeling increasingly amorous around Valentine’s Day, the third-most popular search term during that time period was “Mattress.”

Searches for “Flowers” came in at a disappointing number five.

Additional ShopLocal.com data shows that consumer interest in the bedroom grows as the calendar moves closer to Valentine’s Day. The number of unique visits to ShopLocal.com’s “Bedroom Furniture” category grew by 49 percent during the two-week period of February 1 through February 14 compared to the two-week period of January 18 through 31 (all dates 2005). During the same period, the number of unique searches for “Mattresses” grew by 40 percent.

“These numbers show pretty clearly that people do think about the bedroom around Valentine’s Day,” says ShopLocal.com Shopping Expert Eva Yusa, also known as “Eva the Shopping Diva” on her blog (http://evatheshoppingdiva.blogspot.com) “But what’s interesting is that, in an industry dominated by holiday sales meant to draw people into the physical store, more and more people are first researching mattresses on the Web, or simply buying them online.”

Respected periodical The Onion predicted this trend in its controversial piece “Where Are Today’s Mattress-Sales Visionaries?” (December 22, 2004). In the article, author Malcom Farber cites the Web as one of the factors contributing to major changes in the mattress and bedding industries.

“When people can just go online and buy a mattress with one click, why would they drive in heavy traffic to do business with a man in googly eyeglasses?...Unless a new generation comes in to fill the shoes of their forefathers, the art of mattress-selling is dead.”

Yusa agrees, adding that ShopLocal.com’s wide selection of mattresses makes it easy to find what you need online. “In an average market, ShopLocal.com offers literally hundreds of mattresses, all perfect for Valentine’s Day celebrations,” she says. “You can search for mattresses both in-store via our online ads and circulars, or buy a mattress immediately and have it delivered in time for the holiday.”

Top Mattress Markets according to ShopLocal.com data were Miami, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Philadelphia, and Fort Worth, which all had “Mattress” among their top five searches during the lead-up to the Valentine’s Day holiday.

About ShopLocal

ShopLocal, LLC (www.shoplocalllc.com) is the leading Web shopping company for consumers and retailers. With ShopLocal.com and The ShopLocal Network -- made up of more than 200 affiliate media, search, and shopping sites -- consumers have access to the only place on the Web with information on products from local stores side-by-side with e-commerce options. With ShopLocal’s SmartCircular and Smart Catalog services, retailers can distribute sales and promotional content through The ShopLocal Network as well as their own Web sites.