
We Need a Warby Parker for Mattresses  - rohin
http://priceonomics.com/mattresses/#industry
======
eastdakota
The core problems of the mattress industry (which are not present in
eyeglasses industry) are the high costs of shipping and expensive warehouse
costs.

Given these, Bed In A Box (<http://www.bedinabox.com/>) started with what
seemed like it could be a potentially disruptive business model. They make-to-
order mattresses (will even make custom sizes) and ship Tempurpedic-like
memory foam mattresses directly to you via UPS. They suck all the air out of
the mattresses so the boxes they come in are reasonably sized. Inside the box,
there's a backpack-style sack which makes the mattress easier to carry. I
hauled a Queen-sized mattress up four flights of stairs easily.

I've purchased two mattresses through them and they are high quality and
extremely comfortable. The first purchase they were easily 50% the cost of any
quality mattress I could find elsewhere (including Costco, Sams Club, etc.),
especially if you factored in the cost of delivery. I was surprised that when
I went to buy another mattress from them their prices were markedly higher.

I wonder if consumers were concerned that the low prices indicated low quality
(not the case in my experience) or if they were unable to get the volume to
sustain a low margin, high velocity business.

~~~
AJay17
I've had a memory foam mattress from BedInABox for a few years now and I love
it!

------
MartinCron
While you're disrupting the mattress industry, please consider re-thinking the
King form factor. Changing the aspect ratio by just a few inches would make it
perfectly square, which allows for you to rotate 90 degrees as well as flip,
so the whole thing would wear out more evenly.

As an extra bonus, this would make putting sheets on easier as there's no
wrong way (short of inside-out, I guess).

~~~
stevesearer
Your comment has inspired me to make a 'sheet disruption' company called Who
Gives A Sheet. Sheets will be reversible and for every set of sheets
purchased, we'll give a sheet to someone that needs one.

~~~
MartinCron
I will be your first customer. Egyptian Cotton, high thread count, bright
white. Thanks.

------
Spooky23
There are all sorts of outlets for reasonably priced, what you see is what you
get mattresses: Sam's Club. Costco. Ikea. You can get a decent name brand
mainstream mattress for ~$500.

The problem with mattresses is that it's a product where you need a salesman.
There's a bunch of different products that look similar, but have significant
differences. You want to match the customer with what they want (or tell them
what they want) so that they don't return the thing.

Plus, there are some inherent logistical differences between a pair of
eyeglasses that can be dropped in an envelope and shipped to anywhere in a day
or two. Distribution and warehousing is expensive, the product needs to be
delivered quickly (and picked up if the customer is displeased).

There is a market for discount mattress sales outlets on the internet -- but
just as online furniture and appliance outlets haven't "disrupted" the market,
mattresses online are unlikely to either.

~~~
JPKab
"There are all sorts of outlets for reasonably priced, what you see is what
you get mattresses: Sam's Club. Costco. Ikea. You can get a decent name brand
mainstream mattress for ~$500."

I hear you, but who says that $500 is a reasonable price for a mattress? I'm
sorry, but looking at the raw materials involved (don't even get me started on
the frickin foam ones that don't even have springs: I'm looking at you
Tempurpedic) it's clearly still a racket at the Sam's Club prices.

If it is the raw materials, and not a rip off, then why do solid foam rubber
mattresses cost more than mattresses containing moving parts and metal
springs?

~~~
aaronblohowiak
I have purchased my last two mattresses from Overstock, and recommend people
do the same (and read the comments on all of them, preferring those with more
reviews...)

[http://www.overstock.com/Bedding-Bath/Memory-Foam-
Mattresses...](http://www.overstock.com/Bedding-Bath/Memory-Foam-
Mattresses/4512/cat.html?keywords=memory%20foam%20mattresses&searchtype=Header)

~~~
shazow
Lots of mattresses are rated +4.5 with 550 reviews but when you go read the
reviews, there's a ton of 1/5 reviews saying "the memory foam lost its memory
after a couple of months."

For example: [http://www.overstock.com/Home-Garden/Comfort-Dreams-
Select-A...](http://www.overstock.com/Home-Garden/Comfort-Dreams-Select-A-
Firmness-11-inch-King-size-Memory-Foam-Mattress/3158655/customer-reviews.html)

Something really shady is going on with their rating averaging.

------
raldi
If you attempt this, I suggest you make a deal with a motel chain: When a
customer checks into a room, they discover a little sign on the bed. The sign
says, "Like this mattress? Get a brand-new copy delivered to your home for
$X00 by visiting mattressr.com and entering bed code MEDIUMSOFT-23."

~~~
oostevo
Some hotels do something similar -- chains sell the mattresses that they use
in their hotels to consumers.[1]

[1] <http://www.whotelsthestore.com/item.asp?curr_item_id=5>

~~~
MartinCron
Westin makes a lot of fuss about how great their beds are and how you can buy
the whole kit for your home.

<http://www.westin-hotelsathome.com/bed.aspx>

I was a little disappointed when I stayed in a Westin a few years ago, the bed
was nice, but didn't live up to the high expectations.

~~~
hapless
Westin and 'W' hotels are the #2 and #1 "tier" hotels in the same company,
Starwood. And it seems that the 'W' bed costs about $500 more than the
"Westin" version. Fitting.

~~~
milesskorpen
Le Meridien and St. Regis are both higher-end than W hotels, and are also part
of SPG.

~~~
rdl
St. Regis and Luxury Collection (some of which are branded as Sheratons,
strangely...) are the highest, but there isn't a strict ordering of W, Westin,
Le Meridien. I'd probably say it goes W, Le Meridien, Westin, but individual
properties have a lot of variation. then Sheraton, then Element and Aloft,
then Four Points. There are individual Sheratons which are worse than Four
Points though.

I prefer the Westin bed to the W bed; I've probably spent >100 nights in each.

------
Fluxx
I'm not sure if you can count this as a startup, but I bought my King-sized
Sleep Innovations (memory foam) mattress with Amazon Prime for $530. And if I
wanted the less-think 10" one, it would be $400.

[http://www.amazon.com/Sleep-Innovations-12-inch-Memory-
Mattr...](http://www.amazon.com/Sleep-Innovations-12-inch-Memory-
Mattress/dp/B003CT37LA/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1347644459&sr=8-3&keywords=king+size+memory+foam)

The damn thing was ~100lbs in a giant box, and I got it shipped to me free.
It's super comfortable and well worth the money - remember you sleep for like
25% of your life.

Mattresses seem like less of a specialty-item than eye glasses, so I wonder if
big online retailers like Amazon can just cut out the middle man and service
80-90% of customers?

~~~
twoodfin
The problem is that many people like to lie on a mattress before they buy it.
Sure, that's a little silly since lying on it for a minute or so is unlikely
to capture the experience of tossing and turning on it for a night, but it's
clear that it's a competitive advantage to let the consumer compare a few
models in a physically direct way.

Warby Parker can get away with the similar consumer requirement for glasses
because glasses are small, light and easy to ship. They can send you half a
dozen samples and let you pick the one you want. Not so easy with mattresses!

The car market has this problem as well (in addition to others, like the
protectionist rackets that the dealerships have set up).

~~~
MartinCron
I used to think the same thing about shoes, but Zappos has managed to crack
that with their super-easy returns and two-way shipping.

Is two-way shipping with easy returns possible for mattresses? I would be
willing to try it if I never had to deal with a mattress salesman again.

~~~
gknoy
With a memory foam mattress, they tend to be vacuum packed in a plastic sleeve
and box that is nigh-impossible to ever fit it back in again. I suppose if you
had a specialized team that could come to your home, repackage it, and take it
away, it might work, but that doesn't sound like it would scale very well
outside of a large city.

~~~
e28eta
When I purchased a big screen TV from Amazon, it was hand delivered and setup
by a team of two for free, at a competitive price for that model.

I won't claim to be an expert on TVs or their delivery, but that was nicer
than buying it at Fry's and manhandling it up the stairs myself.

This was in San Jose area, but I think it was provided anywhere.

Anyway... What I'm trying to say is that a mattress pickup service isn't
necessarily out of the question.

------
silverbax88
Having worked for one of the major mattress firms, there are truths in the
article, but also some serious mistakes.

The pricing structure, where they hide the models by using different names
across retailers, is 100% true. They absolutely do that to prevent price
shopping.

The markup math is off. Mattresses are a high margin business, but most of
those mattresses you see in specialty retailers are not built until someone
buys one. You see, those mattresses are custom to the customer - from the tick
(stitching pattern, which creates a firmer or softer surface) to the foam
density, to EVERYTHING. It's like ordering a car where the car is measured to
a specific person's height, weight and engine preference. You can imagine what
a returned mattress is worth. Pretty much nothing. The margins have to cover
all of that. Are the margins good? Yes. Would a small company be able to cut
their margins to make one-off custom mattresses and compete? ...maybe.

Finally, there are retail outlets - Costco, Ikea, that buy from those mattress
companies in bulk and sell generic mattresses much cheaper.

So, yeah, there's some market there but not as rich as some might think.

~~~
kinofcain
What happens in a specialty high-end mattress store has very little to do with
the bulk of the market: people buying mattresses at Macy's or one of the
numerous regional mattress chains. I don't have any experience in the super-
high-end, but have worked with the low-middle-high end that you get going to a
"mattress store". Those models are definitely not built-to-order, they're
sitting in a warehouse waiting to be delivered, even the $4k+ ones that are
trying to compete with the custom shops. For the bulk of mattresses the
margins mentioned in the article are conservative.

What you're absolutely correct on, however, is that the cost of building a
mattress doesn't represent the cost of running a mattress business.

However, that's exactly what makes it ripe for disruption: streamline the rest
of the business model and loot the manufacturing margins.

~~~
silverbax88
Those mattresses sitting in a stack are bulk orders negotiated by the
retailers. But you can still walk in and order something they don't have in a
back room. Those are built and shipped. But that's not true for all mattress
companies, just some.

------
MattRogish
"By the time a customer buys a mattress, it costs them ~74% more than the
production cost of the product."

I'm not arguing that the mattress industry isn't ripe for disruption, but very
rarely is value delivered directly related to the cost of production.

COGS is often difficult to accurately estimate (how much do you allocate R&D
and other overhead?).

An iPhone 5 may only contain $110 worth of silicon, but the value delivered is
a lot more than the raw material cost. Jony Ive's salary represents a tiny
fraction of each iPhone, but his design and influence represents a significant
chunk of the profit.

~~~
msandford
Someone there couldn't math very well.

First you mark up 50%. Okay, a $100 cost mattress gets sold at $150 wholesale.
Then the retailer marks it up 100%, to $300 total. That's 200% of the
production cost, not 74%.

What they meant to say is "production cost represents only 26% of the final
cost of a mattress" but totally flubbed it.

------
startupfounder
We need a Warby Parker for Diamonds!

1\. Oligopoly market structure CHECK 2\. Insane gross margins CHECK 3\. Opaque
and misleading product naming CHECK 4\. Expensive distribution through
unpleasant channels CHECK CHECK CHECK

~~~
qq66
The problem is that a diamond is inherently a basically worthless rock, so its
retail value is already a figment of the public's imagination. Blue Nile is
the closest that exists today, but they are not that disruptive since the
retail channels already have lots of competition -- it's the supply (De Beers)
that's monopolized.

~~~
MartinCron
The real disruption will come in the form of widely available manufactured
(not mined) diamonds.

I used to think of diamonds as basically worthless rocks, until I went
shopping for an engagement ring stone and looked at them under the jeweler's
microscope, and thought "I want to be dressed from head to toe in these
things". With mass-produced diamonds, that may become a reality.

~~~
qq66
Yes, they're nice to look at, but unlike, say, emeralds, they're not very rare
-- they're simply controlled by a monopoly supplier. Manufactured diamonds
will bring back a competitive supply which would exist if there was a healthy
assortment of companies in the diamond mining industry today.

I do question your judgment in wanting to cover yourself head to toe in
diamonds :) Do you also want to drive this car?
[http://www.diamondvues.com/2007/04/check_out_this_diamond_st...](http://www.diamondvues.com/2007/04/check_out_this_diamond_studded.html)

~~~
MartinCron
No. I wouldn't drive a diamond-studded SL. I would prefer the more modest SLK,
actually.

------
ryanwaggoner
_Like any startup idea, there will be objections. Shipping mattresses is
expensive, people want to lie on them first, mattresses require research and
development spending to develop, a mattress purchase only happens once a
decade, etc. All these objections might be right, but they all sound
surmountable._

They might be surmountable, but that doesn't make this a better opportunity
than a lot of the other opportunities out there, especially for a startup. The
costs involved with disrupting the mattress industry as a manufacturer AND
retailer are better left to a larger company. Like IKEA, as the article itself
pointed out.

~~~
stcredzero
_> a mattress purchase only happens once a decade_

This is a cultural artifact. We've reached a point in manufacturing technology
where this should no longer be true.

 _> disrupting the mattress industry as a manufacturer AND retailer...Like
IKEA,..._

The most comfortable mattress I've ever slept on: A Sultan Fonnes mattress,
with an egg crate foam topper from <http://www.foambymail.com/> on a platform
bed, no box springs. You can leave off the topper and save about $60, if you
like, and you wind up with the equivalent of a great firm futon that never
bunches up. The combination for Queen is well under $400, including taxes and
shipping.

My plan for instant "satisficed" sleep furniture: Buy a cheap platform bed, a
Sultan Fonnes mattress, and 3 eggcrate foam toppers. Keep the combination with
the topper you like best and sell the other two. No going to the store needed
at all. It could all be done through the mail and by delivery in most of the
US.

I am not associated in any way with IKEA or foambymail.com except as a
customer.

~~~
novaleaf
> This is a cultural artifact. We've reached a point in manufacturing
> technology where this should no longer be true.

I hope you are not implying what I think you are.

If you are: rabid consumption is fucking this world into oblivion. Just
because we can produce/buy more easier/faster, does not mean we should.

"There is no such thing as sustainable growth"

~~~
justincormack
Maybe he has a plan to grow mattresses or make biodegradeable ones or
something, but they will have a shorter life?

------
streptomycin
FWIW, Warby Parker was not the first web-based retailer to undercut
traditional eyewear sales, nor are they the cheapest. They do seem to have the
best PR, though.

~~~
storborg
They also have by far the best customer experience. Their website is fantastic
and fulfillment is lightning-fast, neither of which can be said about the
competitors that I've tried (framesdirect.com, zennioptical.com, glasses.com,
39dollarglasses). It's not just PR.

Unfortunately, their range of styles is still very narrow, which is presumably
dependent on their manufacturing capabilities.

~~~
lesterbuck
I used zennioptical.com in 2008 and was very happy. Lacking any fashion sense,
I ordered some computer glasses that I hoped would completely disappear on my
face - #804811 titanium shape memory rimless, single vision, high index of
refraction, with various coatings delivered for under $40. After two years,
the nose bridge broke and I took it around locally to see about a repair. The
local repair guru quoted me $45 to solder them back together and he started
filling out the order, when I stopped him and said I paid less than that for
the whole pair of glasses. Turns out Zenni also sells the frames separately,
$14.95 for that item, and anyone can install the old lenses into the new
frames.

~~~
mahyarm
I think getting a new pair of glasses would still be better after two years,
just because of the wear and tear on the lenses alone degrades your vision.

------
kbrower
I am working at a company that is trying to do just that.

<http://saatvamattress.com/>

~~~
abnerg
Say more sir. I like the non-toxic spin, pricing seems good, and yet, by the
bios on your "about us" page it seems like you are very marketing oriented.
That's fine, but perhaps enlighten the mass here on how you struggle or over
come some of the objections raised above? Personally, I despite mattress
retailers, but I also want to lie down on the thing before I commit to
spending 30% of my life on it.

------
ksherlock
I'd think a better model for disruption would be Priceline. Name a price and
let local mattress stores supply it.

My Luxotica/Ray Bans were made in Italy and (on sale) aren't any more
expensive than the Chinese made Warby Parker sunglasses.

------
twoodfin
One advantage that the eyeglass market has is massive tax favorability in the
U.S.

I believe it's still the case that prescription eyeglasses can be bought with
pre-tax dollars under a "use it or lose it" flex savings plan. I assume vision
plans, which often include large purchase credits for eyeglasses at least
biennially, are also tax deductible benefits.

The result is often relatively price-insensitive consumers who "have" to spend
$200+ on glasses lest they not be taking full advantage of their benefit.

------
larrys
For reference, here is a publicly traded retail mattress seller and it doesn't
appear from their profile that they manufacture but only resell:

<http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=MFRM+Key+Statistics>

Take note of the margins, this isn't Microsoft sized here.

They have almost 900 stores in 27 states.

The article therefore is based on the idea of manufacturing your own mattress
and selling web based. Unfortunately this would require warehouses around the
country and a manufacturing facility in this country to make the mattresses.
Although I'm not sure, I would imagine it would not be cost effective to ship
a mattress from China (although I guess Mexico is possible) because of the
size and weight. So this is not selling sunglasses or fashion eyewear which
can easily be manufactured overseas as well as easily shipped (and returned).

------
johnzimmerman
A couple of years ago I was looking for a Tempur-Pedic style mattress, but
didn't want to spend thousands for one. After doing a lot of research I found
Isoform mattresses. They are only available through the mail and have a 90-day
return window if you're not happy. It would be very expensive to ship numerous
mattresses, but the trial of one with no commitment to buy is pretty good.

------
nisbet
The Author shouldn't have credited Dornob for the first picture of a dreamer,
but the original project, which was done by students:
<http://www.behance.net/gallery/Dreamers/313618> Wasn't hard to find out -
Dornob linked to it. So should everybody who uses other's images.

------
daveman
Like glasses, it's an interesting disruption opportunity due to the sheer size
of demand. Just about 100% of the population sleeps on a mattress. It's hard
to find other industries with so much penetration of demand and such
inefficient competition.

These days it doesn't seem like outbound distribution is too big of a deal
(many mattresses are shippable in rolled or compressed-box form), it's the
reverse logistics that are tricky. Once the genie is out of the bottle, good
luck getting it back in. I'd love to be able to try out a mattress, like
Zappos shoes or Bonobos pants, and return them for free if I'm not 100% happy.
Maybe someone needs to invent an easily-compressable mattress so I can
purchase online with total confidence.

------
latchkey
I bought a keetsa mattress years ago and love it. The op bought one too. It
seems like the best thing to do here would be to just continue to support
keetsa as they really are doing a good job on pretty much all angles. Keetsa
is the Warby Parker here.

~~~
lyime
+1 on Keetsa. Love the memory foam mattress. After a full day of coding/work I
love coming back to this mattress.

------
markerdmann
I just bought a mattress a few months ago, and I agree whole-heartedly with
this post. My solution was to buy a foam mattress from bedinabox.com, which I
would say is the Warby Parker for mattresses.

------
tomjen3
Maybe instead of focussing on selling mattresses you should focus on some sort
of price comparison machine where you can enter what characteristica you want
to (must have memory foam, must be this size, must be x, y and z) and then
have the machine find close matches and display the variours prices? That way
it won't matter if they fix the name, since you don't compare the mattresses
on names, but on features.

------
BroNamath
I just got 5 frames from WP in the mail for "in home try on." The quality of
the glasses are sup-par. They feel like frames you would find at the gas
station. Yes the frames are stylish, but for anyone who has bought glasses
their entire lives, you would know right away why these cost $95. There is a
company that is the WP of mattresses: Ikea. The product is cheap and of low
quality.

------
uptown
Warby Parker's name has crossed my radar a few times in the past month, but I
know nothing about what makes them special. Can somebody please enlighten me,
because even after looking at their site, I still don't get what the big deal
is. Then again, I've got 20/15 vision, and don't wear glasses, so I'm not
their target market.

------
pkulak
It's really easy to spot the industries that have ridiculous margins; just
find the shops that stay open forever, yet seem to make about 1-2 sales a day.
I've seen mattress stores that seem to be able to sustain one full-time
employee and about 20000 square feet of showroom on a couple purchases a day.
Some with sunglass stores.

------
dirtae
I was a big fan of The Original Mattress Factory when I lived in Pennsylvania.
They manufacture their own mattresses and sell them direct to consumers.

<http://www.originalmattress.com/eliminating-the-middle-man>

Unfortunately they don't have a presence on the West Coast.

------
debacle
When I bought my last mattress, it was a relatively painless experience, and
the cost was incredibly reasonable (considering a rough estimate of what the
manufacture labor might have cost).

What kind of mattresses are people buying, and what sort of retailers are they
going to, where this seems like an immensely extortionist industry?

------
jameshsi
Interesting post. Perhaps on the incumbent end, the equivalent would be "We
Need an OPEC of Mattresses."

------
stretchwithme
Wouldn't it be cool if a mattress came in 8 pieces so you can easily move it
and flip it, and rearrange or even replace saggy sections?

I'm sure the need for the entire thing to respond to your body the way it does
probably prevents such a thing, but that sure would make it easier to own one.

------
techcofounder
I completely agree! I recently went shopping for a mattress at Sleep Train and
they admitted that they mask the model numbers of their mattresses so you
can't find them online for cheaper. Someone please build this.

~~~
MartinCron
_they mask the model numbers of their mattresses so you can't find them online
for cheaper_

This practice predates looking online for cheaper. They all obfuscate model
numbers so you can't do comparison shopping or "price matching" in the real
world. It's shameful.

------
olalonde
I'm starting to wonder if priceonomics.com shouldn't pivot to become a full-
fledged data driven publication. They have been publishing some amazingly high
quality content lately.

------
fowkswe
The article hints at this, but Ikea solves all these problems. They have a
small set of easily discernable mattress lines that are priced extremely well.

------
geoka9
Incidentally, $120 for a frame from Warby Parker (which is only "a couple of
pieces of plastic and metal") is still too high IMO.

~~~
mikegirouard
They also include prescription lenses as well.

------
benatkin
This needs "Mattresses" added to its database: <http://nonstartr.com/>

------
ChuckMcM
Clearly there is a distribution challenge (high transportation / storage
costs) but I like the idea of disrupting them.

~~~
latchkey
Keetsa has done a great job of helping this issue. They are foam mattresses
and they suck the air out of them and stuff them into a surprisingly small
box. It actually takes about a month for them to fully reinflate once
unpacked.

------
ry0ohki
Is it so bad that an industry has high margins? $500-1000 doesn't seem that
expensive for a once every 10 years purchase. Mattress salesman gotta make a
living! Seems very hypocritical while we make 90% margins on software.

------
knes
Someone should do a Warby Parker for Wheelchairs.

~~~
GFischer
Filed under the "to do" section :) .

More seriously, there are tons of niches that are underserved by the HN crowd
and that need some disruption.

Patio11's talk has inspired me a lot:

[http://www.kalzumeus.com/2011/03/26/software-for-
underserved...](http://www.kalzumeus.com/2011/03/26/software-for-underserved-
markets/)

------
cloudwalking
What is a "Google-esque margin"?

------
rscale
I believe that entrepreneurs could do well, generally, by looking for
opportunities in industries that are dominated by private-equity players.

If an industry is overweight PE, you can bet that the market analysis looks
fantastically attractive (competition isn't too fierce, suppliers have little
power, buyers have little power, not many substitutes, and little perceived
threat from new entrants). If a clever entrepreneur can render that last
condition false and enter that market, that entrepreneur has the opportunity
to shrink and consolidate a $huge market that's owned by PE players into a
$smaller market that is owned by the entrepreneur.

PE controlled competitors will, generally, not be particularly agile, because
PE tends to capture value by leveraging the heck out of a currently viable
business model. It's a model that works really well as long as base
assumptions hold true, but startups can ruin that for them.

~~~
notJim
Could someone explain for the… ahh… more financially naïve among us why
private equity is the important signifier here? It seems like what rscale is
talking about are markets which are opaque due to companies that have enough
clout to force that inefficiency (e.g., by restricting information or making
product comparisons impossible.) Why or how is that coordinated with private
equity?

~~~
tptacek
Private equity firms buy companies to make them more profitable and then flip
them. They are essentially committing themselves to the incumbent role in
Christiansen's "Innovator's Dilemma". When a market is dominated by risk-
averse incumbents, it is probably ripe for disruption.

~~~
stcredzero
_> When a market is dominated by risk-averse incumbents, it is probably ripe
for disruption._

Who originally formulated this idea? Was it you? This sentence is fantastic.

~~~
IsaacL
As GP said, read Christensen's "Innovator's Dilemma". He's the guy who first
came up with the term "disruptive innovation", and it's more than just a
TechCrunch buzzword -- there's a whole theory behind how disruption actually
works.

~~~
i2pi
The concept dates back much further than Christensen. See
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_destruction>

~~~
nazgulnarsil
Schumpeter should be required reading.

------
medell
100% agree. But if you must buy a mattress go to SleepCountry, they price
match anything.

~~~
bryanlarsen
How does price matching work? One of the major problems with mattress stores
is that everybody sells different mattresses -- they're 99% identical, but
tiny changes are made to justify a different name and prevent comparison
shopping and price matching.

~~~
medell
Yes that is part of the whole scam which I learned a lot about during my last
mattress purchase. SleepCountry has a catalog cross referencing the types of
mattresses from other companies that are very similar if not exact matches to
what they carry. I ended up price matching a Bay One Day Sale mattress that
was $799 (normally $2000, of course that is inflated too) and they gave me a
similar mattress in the showroom that was on sale for $1399. Very happy with
it. I gave my friend my receipt a month later and he got the same deal. You
know SleepCountry is not making much from this sale but I was really happy
with their service so I'm a customer for life... or until they get disrupted!

~~~
debacle
> You know SleepCountry is not making much from this sale

How do you know that? If what the article says is true, it cost them $500 to
manufacture that mattress, or less. With a sale of $800, they're still making
a good profit.

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medell
Overhead like labour, commissions, free delivery...

