In Q3 of 2021, Americans experienced a major COVID-19 resurgence – through the number of cases, in people’s news feeds and in consumers’ concerns and behaviors. According to the Better Sleep Council’s Q3 2021 Tracker, people are reverting toward some attitudes and behaviors exhibited earlier in the pandemic. This comes after seeing some relaxation of COVID-19 concerns and shopping behaviors earlier in 2021. In these third-quarter results, consumers are showing revived concerns about COVID-19 and the overall environment they live in. Confidence in travel and in brick-and-mortar shopping and purchasing has declined in this quarter, as opposed to the previous quarter, and preference for online shopping and purchasing remains strong.

Not surprisingly then, many people – almost two-thirds of those surveyed – said the current environment is affecting their sleep. Interestingly, more people are reporting their sleep as “good” and “very good”– perhaps reflecting the impact of strong mattress purchasing over the past 18 months and the fact that sleep remains their most important health priority.

People are cocooning again, spending much more attention and dollars on optimizing their homes for work, education and living. Bedroom products/sleep accessories purchases are still the No. 1 actual and planned purchases, and purchase intent for mattresses rose slightly. This suggests demand will continue. Brick-and-mortar purchases of mattresses surpassed online purchases for the first time since the BSC tracker began monitoring people’s shopping behaviors in 2020. All of this suggests that sleep will remain a high priority for consumers, and that demand for mattresses is unlikely to dip significantly. It also suggests retailers and manufacturers with effective digital and eCommerce programs will compete more effectively than others.

More details about what mattress shoppers are thinking, feeling and doing can be found in the full report here: BSC Tracker Results Q3 2021.