d has seven well established franchised stores located in metro and outer metro areas in South Australia. Four of those stores are in homemaker centres and three are standalone near main retail hubs. Store sizes average around 1000sqm, with slight variations, and are situated near other well known retailers or major drawcards. Though competition is fairly strong – including major players Forty Winks, Snooze, and Harvey Norman – a longstanding reputation with many repeat customers and recommendations has seen Dreamland maintain a healthy client base over the years. Caporella attributes this long term loyalty to the high level of trust established between Dreamland and its customers. “These days, some retailers come and go, and brands or products come and go,” Caporella said. “I think a lot of people like to buy off someone that they can trust, and they know that we’ve been here for a while.” This is evidenced in the feedback that Dreamland receives from customer enquiries via the company’s website. When asked why they chose to come to Dreamland, many respond that it is because the business has been around over 35 years. Tell ’em they’re dreaming Longstanding advertising also continues to be a drawcard for the business. The taglines, “Much, much more than a mattress store” and “Tell ’em they’re dreaming” are synonymous with Dreamland, and after more than three decades they still receive positive customer feedback. “It’s amazing how many emails and comments I still get about it, but it is still so popular,” Caporella said. “It is really what we present ourselves, as a bedding specialist – and much more than a mattress store.” A good quality mattress will generally have a lifetime of more than a decade. There are, however, many reasons why customers become repeat customers in this area more often than one might anticipate. “Sometimes you think they’re not going to buy another mattress for 10 years, but they will because their circumstances change throughout that time,” Caporella explained. “If your family or your circumstances change – you might become single, get married or have children. And if you’re pregnant you might upgrade your mattress.” On an average Dreamland store floor there may be 50 or more mattresses, so when customers enter the store it’s natural that they may not know where to start their browsing. Caporella said staff members are trained to quickly find out what the customer is looking for in a mattress and then fine tune it so that they fit the right product to the right customer. “We ask all the right questions; all our staff are trained to qualify the customer, what they are looking for in a mattress and cut it right down so that they buy the right mattress.” It is for this very need to intimately match each customer to the right mattress that Dreamland chooses not to sell its products via its website. “The website provides information, but is not transactional,” Caporella explained. “Online there is a large variety from which to choose, however an instorevisit ensures that staff can take into account such issues as back problems so that they are addressed by the correct product. We do tend to keep those customers; I think that’s from the service that I like to think that we provide, and the choice.”