In this guide 6 sections
Store each bed as a measured width and length in millimetres, then show centimetres and inches beside the market name on every mattress, sheet and frame listing. A United States queen, a British king and an Australian queen sit within a few centimetres of each other. The name is a label, not a size.
One bed name can cover several different beds
Queen and king are trade names, not measurements. A king in the United States is a far wider bed than a king in Britain, and a California king is narrower and longer than the standard American king.
Double is another trap. Shoppers in Britain, Australia and the United States all use the word, yet American stores sell a nearly identical bed as a full. Much of continental Europe skips the names and prints width by length in centimetres, so the British super king may mean little to a shopper in Germany.
Shoppers trust the name they grew up with. That trust becomes your return.
- United States: twin, twin XL, full, queen, king and California king
- United Kingdom and Ireland: single, small double, double, king and super king
- Australia and New Zealand: single, long single, king single, double, queen and king
- Much of continental Europe: width by length in centimetres, with few names
Store one measured size and derive the rest
Millimetres should be the only stored unit. Centimetres and inches are calculated from it, so a listing cannot show one number in the title and another in the specification table.
Keep the market name in its own field beside a size family, whether US, UK, Australian or metric, so one measured bed wears a different name on each storefront. No second product record is needed.
Never type dimensions into a title by hand. Generate them from the stored values.
- Width, length and height in millimetres, entered once from the maker’s spec sheet
- Mattress thickness, which decides the fitted sheet pocket depth it needs
- Frame inner width and length, which differ from the outer frame size
- The maker’s tolerance, so a small gap reads as normal and not as a defect
- Market name and size family for each storefront
Match sheets and frames to the mattress, not the name
Fitted sheets care about depth. A mattress with a foam topper can stand taller than the pocket of the sheet, which then lifts at the corners and pulls off during the night. Print the pocket depth beside the mattress thickness.
Duvet covers drift the same way. A British king cover is cut for a narrower bed, so it hangs short on the wider American king, and the same drift shows up in pillowcases. British pillowcases come as Oxford or housewife styles. American ones come as standard, queen or king.
Frames add one more number, the inside of the frame where the mattress rests, and foam and pocket-sprung makers also state the widest slat gap they accept. Record both numbers on the frame. Then link each frame to the exact mattress sizes it takes, so no shopper has to match names across two pages and guess.
Show both units and warn when the markets differ
Show centimetres and inches together, next to the price and not hidden in a tab, leading with the unit of the storefront country and putting the other in brackets. Shoppers should never have to convert.
At checkout, compare the listing’s size family with the delivery country, so a United States queen set bound for Britain triggers a message naming the nearest British size. Give both sets of measurements. The shopper then confirms or switches.
Log each ignored warning. If that order comes back, you learn which pairs of sizes cause trouble and which rows of the data need work first.
- Centimetres and inches beside the market name
- A one-line comparison with the nearest size in the delivery country
- Pocket depth printed next to mattress thickness
- A confirmation tick that the shopper has measured their own mattress
Audit the listings you already have
Export every mattress, sheet, duvet cover and frame listing to a spreadsheet with its title, size name and stated measurements, one row per variant. Sort by size name, then look for blanks, for one name carrying two sets of numbers and for titles that quote a size the data does not.
Next, read the return reasons tagged wrong size for the last quarter and group them by delivery country and product type. Repeats show where data is missing.
Start with one line, usually fitted sheets. Write measured sizes into every row of that line, then check ten recent orders by hand against the new listing before you touch the rest of the catalogue.
Bed size conversion sheet
Every size sits on its own line. Columns cover market name, size family, width and length in millimetres, the same in centimetres and inches, mattress thickness and sheet pocket depth. The last columns hold the frame inner size, the nearest size in each other market and a notes cell for the maker’s tolerance. Fill it once. Every listing then draws from one row.
Open a blank worksheet to printQuestions owners ask
Is a queen the same size everywhere?
No. The word is shared, but the measurements shift by a few centimetres between markets, enough for a fitted sheet to slip or a frame to pinch. Store the measured size instead.
Should I list sizes in centimetres or inches?
Store one unit and show both. American shoppers expect inches, while most other markets expect centimetres, and millimetres work well as the stored unit because they avoid fractions on every row.
Do I need a separate listing for each country?
Not for the bed itself. One product record can carry a different market name on each storefront, and you split it only when the item changes, as with a deeper-pocket sheet.
What should I do when a customer orders the wrong size?
Check which name and unit they saw. If your data was clear, offer an exchange. If it was missing or wrong, correct the listing the same day, because the next order will repeat the mistake.