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posted by martyb on Tuesday April 03 2018, @08:05AM   Printer-friendly
from the Great-question!-Let-me-sleep-on-it-and-I'll-get-back-to-you. dept.

There's an article up on Curbed which looks into the surprising number of online mattress-in-a-box companies that have been starting up recently:

Since Casper launched its "mattress in a box" concept in 2014, digital-savvy entrepreneurs have been launching new mattress brands online seemingly every week. Each offers a state-of-the-art mattress made with patented new materials or an innovative design, all compressed into a small box for easy shipping right to your doorstep.
...
It's hard to know just how many online mattress-in-a-box companies are floating around, but one such company's CEO said the number could be as high as 150. Another said the number of mattress manufacturers, which are rarely the startups actually marketing the mattresses to consumers, is close to 500.

Ideally, a mattress is something you buy once every eight to 10 years, when an old one wears out or a major life event like getting married creates a new household. One can find a quality mattress for around $1,000. Given this is a relatively affordable, infrequent purchase for most households, why do so many companies see an opportunity in the online mattress space?

The article covers the reason for the explosion in the number of these companies, the economics and supply chain behind them, and the longer term survival prospects.

Originally spotted on Hackernews.


Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 03 2018, @02:39PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 03 2018, @02:39PM (#661961)

    What's surprising me is that there are so few mattress companies out there...

    TFA says there are lots of startups trying to shake up the industry with new business models. Time will tell if they are successful.

    ... given the profit margins and the money to be made.

    In the traditional retail-store model, there probably isn't actually a lot of money to be made. As TFA says, most people do not buy very many mattresses during their lives.

    I would not be surprised if a typical mattress storefront has a median daily sales volume of zero.

    This naturally leads to high margins on the product because the cost of the product is not a significant cost of doing business.

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