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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.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 03 2018, @04:11PM (2 children)
Who pays that much for a mattress? My previous mattress was only about $700 14-ish years ago and is going in my guest bedroom more or less good as new. My new mattress that I'm getting today, was only $550 including shipping and is probably just as good as the previous one was.
These mattresses probably do have high margins, but they can't possibly be making that much money when most of the mattresses I see are retailing for less than that. If people are paying that much for a mattress, they're getting cheated as a good quality memory foam mattress is just not that expensive to make or buy.
(Score: 2) by driverless on Wednesday April 04 2018, @01:37AM (1 child)
Ask your family, neighbours, non-geek cow-orkers. You spend a third of your life asleep, a good night's sleep is critical to your wellbeing, are you going to skimp on getting the best sleep you can get, you need our patented bio-symbiotic all-natural metamaterial scientifically proven clinically tested megapedic doctor-approved polymaximegalonic mattress, usually $7,500, but yours today only for $6,500 in ten easy instalments, just sign here, here, and initial there.
You can't make a claim too outrageous or charge a price too high for a set of springs and some ticking.
(Score: 1) by anubi on Wednesday April 04 2018, @06:35AM
Notice how all the marketers have slightly different product variations so its damn near impossible to price compare an exact item?
Sure, they all say "Serta" or "Sealy", but its always some custom variant name, and all the salesmen always claim the cheaper one his competitor is selling, is, well ... cheaper made. Race to the Top Price. Or sleep on an "inferior" product. Not much way for me to verify what I am actually getting.
Like you say, a $50 item, retailing at $1000. Like a HallMark card... gotta "care enough to send the very best". Even if its a scrap of paper. It makes it quite clear to my recipient that I am quite loose with my money...
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]