Gone are the days when buying a mattress used to mean blocking several days off your calendar and going on local trips with the entire family (or just your partner). Nowadays, people just go online, click on the product they want, and wait for it to be delivered on the following days.
The online mattress niche is so successful that new producers enter the market almost every month. But, as you can imagine, not all of them are successful. Furthermore, the predictions for the future are grim, with only the strongest brands remaining in the end.
So, if you want to make sure your new business will grow and develop as quickly as top brands did (Purple and Lull are fantastic examples here), make sure to read the steps we listed below.
Understand the Current System
The thing that launched popular mattress brands into business was a thorough understanding of what went wrong with the current system. Of course, that was back then, when buying a bed online was unheard of.
However, if you’re a new producer, you have to understand what can go wrong with the online system and what are the problems customers have to face. For instance, a new brand like Helix Sleep managed to make room in the already crowded online bed industry by understanding buyers’ need for customization.
When brands like Purple and Lull only have one product to offer in various sizes, Helix understood that people need different firmness settings. So, they created a system where each product is designed based on each buyer’s personal settings.
Customer Experience
Yes, big online brands managed to snatch up to 5% of the mattress market just by improving the customer experience. Cutting off the middleman and offering buyers the possibility to shop for a mattress from the comfort of their home was a huge improvement. However, a new business trying to get ahead may need to come up with more.
For instance, Helix created a system that’s simple but also allows customers to input their preferences in order to get a highly customized bed. As a new contender on the market, you will also have to come up with ideas that make a buyer’s life easier.
The Right Price
Even though the tendency is to slash prices, you need to adapt them according to your company’s needs. When you sell online there are some costs you get to cut, but creating a high-quality product is still a difficult job. So make sure to include all the costs before you start with a low price – there are other ways to attract customers your way!
For instance, if you research for a Purple mattress coupon code, you’ll find lots of offers. The same will happen for other great brands that would rather feature a full-price and incentivize the buy with other offers.
Focus on Marketing
Each successful mattress business is here today because the owners treat it like a tech start-up rather than a business that sells beds online. This means they invest a lot of money in marketing, viral videos, ads on social media and other popular sites, and more. But they don’t just advertise online; big brands also run offline ads in places where people usually gather, such as subway stations, bus stations, and so on.
When you manage to communicate with your target audience in a way that’s easy to understand and quick to process, you know you’re on the path to success!
Don’t Dismiss the Established Players
If the numbers reported by brands like Lull or Purple look impressive, you’ll be amazed by the numbers reported by established players like Tempur Sealy or Mattress Firm! These players report numbers of about 2 to 3 billion dollars, which makes the profits in the online industry seem like nothing.
So, before you launch your own business in the niche, we recommend learning from the big guys. They may not be online, but they own the market (for now). Learn from their successes and mistakes, and you’ll have a whole new vision for this niche.
In Conclusion
While it may look like a busy niche, the mattress industry still has room for innovative entrepreneurs. Basically, if your business idea is creative and brings something new to the table, you have all the chances in the world to succeed!
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