Archers Sleepcentre Competition Entries

Click below to see our entries

1. The Perfect Sleeper
2. Sleeping Pets
3. Sleeping Children
4. Sleeping Party Animals

Google beds or mattresses and who do you see? Dreams, Bedroomworld, Mattressonline, Mattressman, Bensons for Beds etc etc. Alas, no Archers Sleepcentre.

So David B and I visited the 2012 Internetworld Exhibition at Earls Court last week to find out how it’s done. Three days we were there, and we talked and we talked and we talked to every SEO Company in Christendom to find the secret.

It seemed every stand had worked with a bed retailer at one time or another. “Tough market” they sagely pronounced with transcendent smiles translating to “this is gonna cost you mate”.

Pay per click (PPC) is the holy grail to bed stardom you …continue reading : Google Beds and Mattresses

Dining sets are a new addition to the Archers Sleepcentre product portfolio. David B (our E commerce Director) and I have a shared history of selling dining tables and chairs and I’m pleased to say we have transferred that knowledge to selling the odd table leg and seat cushion online too.

But the word out there is dining furniture is a dying swan. The TV dinner, the dysfunctional family and the building of shoe box houses has led to the demise of the dining room and the dining table and chair set therein.

If there is a God, the modern day architect must know they will endure everlasting discombobulation as they roast in hell. Those pathetic, high density, modern day rabbit hutches raise my Sesquipedalian rants to volume 11  …continue reading : Dining Sets Sales down but no Recession

At a recent presentation we learned that Silentnight Beds are scrapping their entire range of internet mattresses. Over-specified and under-priced was the shortened version of the argument.  That there was no profit was beyond argument. Sleepless nights indeed.

As a retailer I begged them to look to their overheads, cut the wages, make working conditions more flexible. Get the sales reps one day a week doing a bit of tape edging. Sell off that expensive machinery. Employ workers rather than depreciate white elephants.

My ideas fell on deaf ears and Silentnight are pressing …continue reading : Sleepless Nights for Mattress Online Retailers

At Archers Sleep Centre we have introduced a new and exciting collection of dining tables and chairs that is growing by the day.

It’s a new venture for us, but given the growth we have achieved with or bedroom furniture ranges we are confident we will have similar success.

Our range includes a selection from leading furniture suppliers such as Julian Bowen, Sweet Dreams, Seconique, LPD Furniture and Core products.

Dining tables are the central meeting place for …continue reading : Archers Launch Dining Tables and Chairs Sets

The best firm orthopaedic mattresses for sale in the UK today are the Sealy Ortho Luxury and the Sealy Millionaire.

Sealy Beds have been making mattresses like these since Adam was a boy and I am pleased Sealy are planning to continue making them. Which is a relief.

We travelled to Drayton Manor Theme Park last week in trepidation. Not in fear the theme park was open, which it wasn’t, but whether Sealy, holding an out of season exhibition, were going to announce the demise of the much loved Ortho Luxury and Millionaire mattresses.

Classic, traditional, orthopaedic mattresses with no memory foam, no fancy technology. Just Sealy Posturepedic at its very …continue reading : Best UK Firm Orthopaedic Mattress

Silentnight have announced plans for a 40 day comfort guarantee. If you are not comfortable with your new bed we’ll get you a different one, free of charge.

This a really good idea. Dreams Beds have offered this guarantee for years. Dreams are the most successful bed company in the UK, so it ought to work.

Of course I did have some worries about how much the scheme will cost and whether the sales person will be happy dealing with complaints that might be of a marginal nature.

Fortunately our Silentnight area representative took me through the scheme today and much as he laughed at my worries (he has a fantastic sense of humour and really enjoys my jokes) he was totally reassuring. Apparently Silentnight have done this guarantee before and it worked wonderfully well.

So I have rewritten this blog. Homo Badbakitus will now know when he buys the

…continue reading : Silentnight Beds 40 day Comfort Guarantee

Bling must be the new cool. Our new best selling bed is the Black Diamante Faux Leather Double Bed. The Liberace world wide fan club are piling in. You wouldn’t believe what people buy on the internet but I can tell you loads of people are.

It was indeed another internet record week last week and this time it felt especially good. January you see has been a terrible month. The VAT rise on 4 Jan 2011 had brought forward purchases last year and so like for like bed sales comparison post Boxing Day was depressing. I thought to send all our sales staff to Mary Portas and be re-programmed.

But February is proving …continue reading : Diamante Leather Bed a Best Seller

Last Tuesday seven flat packed 2 door Rauch Imperial extra wide wardrobes fell on top of our Auldhouse warehouseman. Have a look at the link.  David Blaine and Derren Brown wouldn’t have survived. Calum did, just.

Calum’s good fortune was The Incredible Bulk, our Auldhouse store manager, he was close at hand. Stevie single handedly grabbed the bottom wardrobe and lifted with every sinew. Wardrobes wedged under his back and hunkered down in his preferred Sumo position Calum could roll out.

Not just were these wardrobes impossible to lift, Stevie broke his wrist in the lift. The myths of green skin …continue reading : Imperial Wardrobe and the Incredible Bulk

Bedsdirect.com and mattress24.co.uk, offering free next day delivery of beds and mattresses, have gone offline and their sister bricks and mortar Company, Cannock Beds, has closed down (they were neighbours of ours at Seafield, Edinburgh).

I think back to March 2008 when we first came across Timberband (the parent Company). They were so successful. They rapidly opened a dozen stores in Scotland and we felt threatened and we worried a lot. Cheap beds and cheap mattresses for free next day delivery anywhere in the UK. What could have happened in 4 years?

“There but for the grace of God go I”. In 2008 we were all retail Gods. Not that …continue reading : Bedsdirect and Mattress24 Go Offline