Operational scale only works when corporate teams can deliver clear, relevant direction without creating more work for the field.
ForMattress Firm, America’s leading mattress retailer since 1986, that challenge was hiding inside a process most retailers still rely on: the manual mail merge.
With more than 2,200 stores nationwide, Mattress Firm empowers 6,500+ users with location-specific information through a unified digital ecosystem. At the National Retail Federation‘s Big Show (NRF 2026), Robyn Martin (Senior Director of Store Operations) and Steve Zawlocki (VP of IT) spoke at the YOOBIC mini theatre with Erin Valade (Strategic Account Director at YOOBIC) to share how they turned their platform, affectionately named “Mission Control,” into a competitive advantage.
Mattress Firm was also the center of our Big Ideas session at NRF 2024—watch the full video
What operational challenge was Mattress Firm trying to solve?
Store managers were losing hours every morning digging through massive spreadsheets. They had to manually sift through the data to figure out what applied to their store and what needed action. It was time-consuming, error-prone, and pulled them off the sales floor.
At the corporate level, Mattress Firm relied on traditional Word documents and Excel mail merges to distribute this information across 2,200+ locations. The goal was personalization. The reality was friction.
- System fragility: Large mail merges regularly froze Outlook and corporate systems
- Manual effort: Compiling and sending communications took up to 90 minutes
- No structured accountability: Emails weren’t built for execution. Managers still had to “go fish” through reports
YOOBIC helped them rebuild the process entirely.
Instead of sending static emails, we automated data processing and pushed personalized, store-specific tasks directly into managers’ daily workflow.
What used to take hours now takes about 10 minutes. Data is uploaded, tasks are automatically generated, and managers see exactly what they need to act on.
The results speak for themselves:
- 41,000+ tasks completed
- 100% completion rate
“It takes what used to be…90 minutes to just compile and then send out emails… by moving into [YOOBIC], it takes about maybe 15–20 minutes to compile the data, and then we drop a file and we walk away.”
— Robyn Martin, Senior Director of Store Operations
Now, managers spend less time decoding spreadsheets and more time driving sales on the floor.
How does the YOOBIC integration center automate store communication?
The team consolidated 7 disparate tools by leveraging YOOBIC’s integrations and the Integration Center to transform manual work into a “drop and walk away” workflow.
- Data collection: Corporate compiles store data into a spreadsheet.
- Automated upload: Files are dropped into YOOBIC, which generates personalized missions for each location or associate.
- Reduced workload: This process has contributed to 128k hours saved annually organization-wide.
For a deep dive into this partnership, read: How Mattress Firm’s Retail Ops and IT Partnered for Success.
Why does automation matter beyond efficiency?
Automation turned communication into execution by removing the trade-off between personalization and effort. Stores did not see a change in their daily workflow, they simply received higher-quality, direct information.
Instead of generic messages with external links, stores now receive location-specific data and clear actions to take. This streamlined approach has driven an 80% average weekly user adoption rate across the fleet. For corporate teams, this ensures the field is focused on the right priorities without the “extra step” on the back end.
For more on driving engagement, read our guide on building frontline belonging.
How did automation drive measurable performance improvements?
By embedding key metrics directly into Mission Control, the team triggered a behavioral shift in their store teams.
- Visual accountability: Stores immediately see if a metric is “overdue” or “in the red,” prompting instant action.
- Historic lows: Within the first month, the company hit historic performance lows for a key target metric.
- Sustained success: This improvement has remained consistent for over a year.
For a guide on achieving consistent performance during periods that account for 30% of revenue, download our playbook: Strategies for Peak Season Execution.
Why is the partnership between IT and operations successful?
Tight alignment between Store Operations and IT allows the business to innovate without a heavy lift. Because YOOBIC is a no-code platform, the operations team can build new missions independently, moving at the speed of the business rather than the speed of a traditional IT queue.
This collaboration has transformed YOOBIC into a true “Mission Control”—a central nervous system where every priority is visible, actionable, and trackable. By automating the routine, Mattress Firm has reclaimed the time needed to focus on what matters most: the customer experience.
“Having flexibility with this platform and the capability of it is just, it's unbelievable… we're just finding ways to do it more efficiently, and it's very easy.”
Steve Zawlocki, VP of IT at Mattress Firm
