Preparing for a production facility in Iran, Pierre Cardin Mattress company will offer licensed products in new stores.
Having a license of Pierre Cardin, Reference Furniture launched the first concept store in Avcilar, Istanbul. A similar one is to be opened in Maltepe. Ayhan Tortulmus, sales and marketing manager of the company informed about the mattress industry in Turkey and in abroad.
Would you inform us about your investments you planned for the years ahead?
We bought Pierre Cardin license for 28 countries as Reference Furniture and opened the headquarter in Avcilar to serve in the country and in an area covering Europe, Russia, Gulf countries and Iran. We invest first in the countries that we are interested for one year; if the result is good we deepen our relations in that country. We think about having a factory in Iran, a country that consumption was limited due to the embargo. We talked to a major investor in that country. We have also talks with investors in Belgium and Holland for distributorship agreements.
Do you invest in Turkey?
First we have to establish a sales organization. We got the license four years ago. W have a concept store in Avcilar, where all licensed products out of clothing will be sold. Additional stores will be operational Maltepe, Masko and Modoko. We planned to open at 10 locations in 2016. They may be corners or showrooms. Designs will be suitable for exhibiting mattresses and bases. Later on, we want to add other soft products completing the line for bedding needs supported by other furniture items. For this reason, we called these stores as Pierre Cardin Home. Mattresses are to be sold at corner stores.
What kinds of mattresses are in the line?
We have had produced our products in the main factory of us in Italy. Then we changed our production base in Turkey by signing a partnership. For some time, certain terms were used such as orthopedic, soft or hard orthopedic etc. as a marketing pitch. Our products were all labeled as orthopedic. In contrast to the legal limits of two years guarantee, we offer five-year guarantee for our products. The limit can go up to ten years for spring type mattresses. We are about to sign an agreement with an American company, we keep its name anonymous, on the use of special spring system in the mattresses.
We have two visco and one-foam kinds in non-spring mattresses. We are back again to Latex, one is full latex and the other is a hybrid combination of latex and spring. We started mattresses for babies as well in four models. We also developed a new line of home textiles by establishing a partnership with one of the major producers in Turkey. Accessories that will be demanded in bedrooms are to be launched at our stores.
What is your opinion about the mattress industry? What types of changes are seen in both supply and demand side of the business?
There are about 2,500 producers in the sector. Mattress industry has more capacity of supply than demand of domestic market. Even additional companies enter in the market. Entrepreneurs from Europe, Holland, Belgium, and Germany who have a joint past with Turkish market are forming businesses. The industry is growing in terms of production capacities thanks to the growing demand from abroad. Earlier major companies were sharing the market, now medium sized enterprises are growing in number. Most of them sell their wares through established companies having serious turnovers.
Mattresses produced in Turkey meet all the requirements in terms of quality and health. The companies are even more successful than their European counterparts, especially with their outlook, fabrics and the materials used. Europeans are more sensitive on health issues. European companies try to reduce the cost of transportation by producing industrial type of products. They behave commercially. Rolled mattresses are also produced in Turkey. In general, I am in the opinion that, the products made in Turkey are better than the ones made in Europe. The prices of mattresses sold by Europeans starts at 25 thousand Euro. Except these, Turkish companies can compete with them successfully.
Consumers have become more conscious on choosing the best mattresses in Turkey as well. Efforts of leading companies, and leading publications such as yours, and the fair held in the country such as Sleepwell have contributed much to the emergence of this awareness about health and sleep issues. Earlier, mattresses are bought from furniture sellers, now the consumers first get information about the products, the sellers and their needs then goes for shopping. Now, mattresses are sold in showrooms not on the directions of people working in the furniture stores.
