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Dormia®
- Building a National Brand Offering
Through Select Mattress Retailers and
Direct
Company Stores
By: Dale T. Read, Editor in Chief
You
can sense the energy from the moment you walk through
the door of the Dormia® headquarters in Jessup, Maryland
and meet Mike Zippelli, CEO and Alan Hirschhorn, new
Senior Vice President of Sales. This is a company with a
clear mission and goal of building a national brand,
designed specifically to provide consumers with a
product that provides the ultimate in mattress comfort,
resulting in the most satisfying and restorative sleep
possible.
Zippelli
is quick to offer that Dormia® is one of the fastest
growing bedding companies in the United States, directed
by a management team that has more than 200 years of
cumulative experience in the bedding industry. Zippelli
came out of retail and direct marketing, creating Dormia
when his company, Advanced Comfort Inc. purchased
Classic Sleep Products in 1991. The former Classic was
the leading manufacturer of waterbeds in the 1980s and
had even been a publicly traded company in 1985. When
Zippelli first acquired Classic, he worked closely with
the specialty sleep retailers who were carrying the line
at that time. In a relatively short period of time,
however, Zippelli realized that he needed to make major
changes and move in the direction of establishing a
national brand that would address the health and
lifestyle needs of consumers who wanted restorative
sleep and were willing to pay more than $1,000.00 for a
higher quality bed.
Today Dormia is taking direct aim at the health
conscious consumer, who they reach through 25 company
owned stores and more than 1,000 doors of select
mattress retailers throughout the country. Zippelli
says, “In today’s society, people are working harder
than ever, are increasingly stressed out, prone to
obesity, and more than 50% of them believe they are not
getting enough sleep.” Zippelli further stated, “We have
developed a clear value promise to our customers. We are
offering physical rejuvenation, and we challenge our
customers to ‘sleep on a Dormia tonight, feel
rejuvenated tomorrow’. We want our prospective customers
to lie down on our beds; we want them to specifically
answer the question, ‘how does this feel?’ In fact, the
tag line on some of our ads and posters reads,
‘Dormia—For the way it feels’.”
In order to achieve their goal of reaching the
discerning 35–59 year old customer, with incomes of more
than $75K per year, the new Dormia has developed a
specific marketing and retail strategy. The company is a
vertically integrated manufacturer with 25 Dormia retail
stores and has a specific goal of expanding the number
of company owned stores over the next 18 months. In
addition to adding more Dormia stores, Zippelli
contracted with Connie Post to redesign the Dormia
retail store format. Recently opened stores now have
softer features, with warm, inviting, upbeat posters of
happy, refreshed and rejuvenated people. Connie Post’s
new retail environment has been designed specifically to
attract the female consumer. Recent research has shown
that females in the target audience of 35-59 make the
major bedding buying decisions in the $1,000-$2,000
range.
Over the past several years, Dormia has also sold
mattresses made from the finest materials in the world
through such top bedding retailers as Art Van, Mattress
Discounters and Sleepy’s. Zippelli states that it is
very important for Dormia’s future to continue to add
targeted bedding retailers who are comfortable with
marketing sleep sets with a retail price point of
between $1,000–$2,000.
E-commerce has proven to be a highly effective third
channel for Dormia. Drawing upon Zippelli’s retail and
direct marketing experience, the company successfully
markets Dormia products through www.Dormia.com.In
addition to product and company information, the site
also provides a store locator to Dormia stores in nine
states and also has a zip code search feature which
offers brick and mortar stores within thirty miles of a
designated zip code.
With private equity investment and a clear vision for
innovative branding, Dormia is pursuing a new mall
strategy by placing six trial Retail Merchanding Units
in strategic malls throughout the country. Zippelli
states that these RMUs are a revolutionary concept in
bedding retail strategy. Consumers will be able to lie
on a Dormia bed and then make use of the computer to get
more information.
 Mattresses made of the finest materials in the
world
In order for a company to offer the promise of
physical rejuvenation, it has to offer quality materials
in its sleep sets. Zippelli says, “We have specifically
built in features and benefits which are designed to
shatter the traditional demand price point. We believe
that if we can demonstrate superior performance and
comfort to our consumers, that they will be willing to
pay the $1,000-$2,000 price points that we ask for our
products. We have a very clear mission statement,
concerning our product offering,” says Zippelli. “Our
mission statement reads as follows, ‘We are dedicated to
manufacturing the finest mattresses, using
craftsmanship, innovative design and the finest
materials available anywhere in the world.’”
Dormia has created their sleep sets with superior
components from around the world. New Zealand lambs’
wool is one of these materials. It offers superior
comfort, contouring to the body and diffuses pressure
points. The wool is allergy free and dust mite
resistant. It also offers thermal comfort and wicks
moisture away from the body. Lyocell, a material
produced from cellulose, is as fine as silk, as strong
as polyester, as easy to care for as acrylic, as cool
and pleasant as linen, as warm as wool and more moisture
absorbent than cotton.
Lyocell manages heat and moisture better than any other
cover, and it has a superior softness and strength when
compared with other fibers. Bamboo ticking is one of the
most popular up and coming products on the market.
Recent studies have shown that bamboo yarn has four
times the moisture absorbency as cotton and it is
naturally resistant to bacteria, fungi and pests. Dormia
also shops for the finest latex foam rubber and visco
elastic temperature responsive foams, using various
sources throughout the world.
Dormia offers a broad line of premium bedding products
utilizing these components. Two of the top sellers are
The Ambrosia by Dormia and The Gold by Dormia. The
Ambrosia by Dormia is one of the company’s more popular
premium latex beds. This bed features a bamboo cover,
for breathability, over New Zealand lambs’ wool tufting.
Under the tufting in the comfort layer, there are two
inches of genuine, soft Talalay latex on top of two
inches of medium-firm Talalay latex. These latex layers
sit on top of a layer of premium visco elastic form,
providing pressure relief. A five and a half inch extra
firm tri-zoned block of latex serves as the core of the
Ambrosia mattress. These comfort and pressure relief
layers are supported by a base foam for added
durability, and enclosed by a durable edge support foam,
for increased stability. For those consumers who
prefer the feel of visco elastic conforming foam, Dormia
offers The Gold. This set features an all-natural cover
for breathability, 100% hypo-allergenic New Zealand wool
tufting, and a box top with premium visco elastic foam.
A second layer of visco pressure relief foam sits
underneath the topper and is supported by a layer of
100% Belgium tri-zoned latex, to assure orthopedic
support. These comfort and support layers sit on a
durable base foam and are all enclosed by the edge
support system, increasing stability.
Building a Brand Through Quality Product and
Strategic Marketing
Being the experienced retail executive that he
is, Mike Zippelli, President and CEO, took strategic
steps to both obtain the financial resources and to
build the team that Dormia would need to achieve its
business objectives. Back in January, Dormia publicly
announced that the private equity firm, Main Street
Resources had made a significant investment in the
company’s development. Connecticut based Main Street
Resources, which specializes in investing equity capital
in small and middle market regional companies, became a
financial partner with Dormia, providing resources for
the development of new products, new designer retail
environments by Connie Post and the ‘For the way it
feels’ marketing strategy. Zippelli states that millions
of dollars will be spent for market development, for
advertising as well as the RMUs and the opening of
additional Dormia stores.
In April, Dormia brought on a major team player by
hiring Alan R. Hirschhorn, a 27 year industry veteran,
to serve as senior vice president of sales, with
specific responsibility for expanding the national
dealer distribution of Dormia’s growing popular mattress
line. Hirschhorn joins Dormia from Tempur-Pedic, where
he played a central role as the regional sales manager
for the New York metropolitan market. During his seven
years in that capacity, he grew the New York territory
to more than $30 million in sales, and he opened more
than 100 new accounts.
With the combined elements of design, finances, the
right team, the right distribution channels, the right
product mix and pricing strategy and, above all, a focus
on ‘rejuvenating sleep’, Dormia is poised to become a
major national brand in the bedding/mattress field.
Retailers who are interested in participating in the
growth and expansion of the Dormia brand can see this
new line up at the Las Vegas Market at the World Market
Pavilion #P13213.
Or contact: Alan Hirschhorn (877) 707-7533
or visit
www.dormia.com
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