g local owners and operators means the Forty Winks franchisees are very engaged with their local communities. “They work hard for their communities and that’s one of the benefits of having owner-operators in all our franchises, whether it’s Forster in NSW, Albany in WA, or Launceston in Tasmania.” The market is down, but new demographics beckon Covid-19 supercharged many markets, including work-from-home technology and, in the case of Forty Winks and its space, the household and bulky goods sector. But with the health crisis now behind us, discretionary spending on items like travel is back on consumers’ radar and competing for a share of wallet space. Then there are all the factors contributing to the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, including interest-rate rises and inflation, making the consumer dollar even harder to win. For Forty Winks, this has led to a stark reality: van den Dungen says the market is down by about 20 per cent on the same time last year. “All these pressures are putting the pinch on wallets,” he said. “But we’re actually outperforming the category, and so we’re going after market share. “That’s the focus for the next 12-18 months. How do you become the dominant player in the category and take market share from others?” Those mum-and-dad store owners? They’re a competitive advantage Forty Winks’ franchisees are embedded in their communities but, during the cost-of-living crisis, they’ve also been prudent with their money, van den Dungen said. “They’ve held onto their savings, they’re very strong and they’re investing in their marketing,” he said. And it’s the marketing investment that’s important. Forty Winks has embarked on a major campaign called Unslept, which is an acknowledgment that, as a society, we’re simply not getting enough sleep, and the sleep we’re getting isn’t of sufficient quality. Van den Dungen’s passion about people getting high-quality sleep – or, as is the case, not getting enough good sleep – is infectious. It’s something he brings up at social gatherings. And while it may not constitute the last word in BBQ small talk, he’s got the stats and facts to back up his claims. In a nutshell, lack of sleep releases a hormone that promotes obesity, he said. It also speeds up the ageing process and, for every hour of sleep someone misses out on, they lose the equivalent of one IQ point the following day. “So, lack of sleep puts on weight, speeds up ageing and potentially makes you dumber,” he somewhat wryly observed. Then there’s the elephant in the room, with some evidence pointing to disrupted sleep in older people leading to the early onset of dementia. “It’s not settled, but it looks likely.” These sleep facts aren’t a secret, but van den Dungen said there’s very little cut-through to get the average person to rethink what they’re doing when it comes to sleep. And so, the Unslept campaign was born. “We thought, [unfortunately], we can be scientific, we can be straight, we can be boring, and we can be clinical,” he said. “But Forty Winks isn’t boring, and it isn’t clinical.” So again, it comes back to those mum-and-dad franchisees. Van den Dungen said if someone spent any time with Forty Winks’ store owners, they’d spend half their time laughing. They’re a fun group of people who are part of their communities. “They’re not too serious, other than the fact they’re very serious about what they do, about trying to help people get a better night’s sleep.” And so, the Unslept campaign, in taking a lighthearted approach to the sleep crisis through individual store owners, aligns with Forty Winks’ cultural values while attempting to educate people about the fact sleep is something we can’t neglect if we want good health and a long life. 2024: a brand repositioning Forty Winks was founded in 1984. Van den Dungen’s dad was one of the founding members of the group. The core demographic back then was the Baby Boomers, and it’s a market that has remained loyal to the company. The problem is, the Baby Boomers are getting old. “We don’t want to lose or leave that group, but they’re moving into other areas of the market now as they go into retirement living and need more assistive technology in the bedroom.” Because of this demographic shift, Forty Winks, in van den Dungen’s words, needed to find another group to grow old with. The company did in-depth studies. It engaged market experts and consultants. It spent a lot of money, and when it came out the other side of the process, it realised it needed to engage the ‘bed in a box’ crowd. That is, Gen Z and younger Millennials. “It’s a younger crowd, but they are really focused on health and wellbeing outcomes, and for us, that’s a desired future customer.” But to reach those customers, Forty Winks had to reinvent its tech stack from top to bottom. It needed to meet the future customers where they are on their buying journey, be it in-store, a traditional e-commerce web environment, or somewhere else those young folks hang out, like Instagram. “Our journey eventually led us to realise our model is far more interesting and relevant to them, having the ability to transact wherever they are,” he said. Instagram might seem a long way from a mum and dad-owned store in a regional area. But there’s common ground. Instagram and family-owned stores are both communities, just different kinds. And as Forty Winks came to realise, when you’re selling a better night’s sleep, it’s community that counts. This story first appeared in the 2024 Australian Retail Outlook.