May 2026 Retail Metrics:
May’s numbers are in — and the story looks different depending on which category you’re in.
In mattress, daily revenue surged 26% year-over-year and prospecting activity nearly tripled, signaling a real momentum shift. In furniture, conversion ticked up from last year, but revenue is still down and be-backs continue to slide — a reminder that traffic alone doesn’t move the needle. We explored exactly that in this week’s blog: the troubling tale of two locations where a 12-point conversion gap added up to $3.6 million in annual revenue lost.
This week we’re also breaking down both industries and sharing our newest case study: how one regional furniture chain was sitting on a $302K monthly revenue gap — with the 2nd-highest traffic in the chain. Three fixable metrics told the whole story.
May isn’t a traffic story. It’s an execution story.
Today's Rundown
- Q1 Home Furnishing Benchmark Report: Sign up to receive the Q1 2024 Home Furnishing Benchmark Report.
- The Highs and Lows – The Tale of Two Stores: Download our latest use case and turn every rushed interaction into a calm, confident close.
- Cold play: How AI virtual try-on solutions Google & Doji are changing retail
Case-Study
Closing Your Conversion Gap
One store in a regional furniture chain is pulling 19 visitors a day — second highest in the entire chain. It’s also dead last in revenue, trailing the chain leader by $300K every single month. The traffic isn’t the problem. So what is?
This week we broke down the full picture across all stores and found that the gap comes down to three specific, measurable metrics — none of which are foot traffic.
The findings are worth a look whether you run 2 locations or 20. If your stores aren’t all performing the way your best one does, the answer is probably hiding in the same place.
May 2026: Furniture Industry
May 2026: Mattress Industry
Retail Snippets
Consumer shift: 4 retail trends that will reshape the industry in 2025.
Cold play: The Toy industry faces ‘devastating’ impact from tariffs.
‘Welcome Joann customers’: Longtime competitor woos shoppers from closing retailer.
Random Irrelevance
Mapped: Anthropic intensifies AI competition with $200 plan for Claude models.
Smooth Travels: US airports report smooth operations as new Real ID requirement takes effect.
Never before Seen: NASA tracks strange never-before-seen ‘waterworld’ planet eight times the size of Earth.
