Buying a mattress may be a painful experience that you’d rather avoid, but it’s a big business generator. U.S. consumers spent an estimated $14 billion on mattresses last year, with some luxury retailers like Savoir Beds pricing their bespoke bedding at up to $50 thousand. But one company is hoping to make the luxury of a good night’s sleep available to everyone. Like most startups looking to disrupt an industry, Casper wants to make the mattress buying process easier and cheaper. ‘We think we’re a very different approach to selling beds,’ explains CEO Philip Krim. The company only sells its self designed mattresses direct through its website, with no traditional retail stores or commission sales people involved. The New York startup has reportedly raked in around $20 million in sales in its first year of business. Here’s how it works: Casper ships to your door in a vacuum packed box. The mattress then expands when you open it to become a full size bed in a matter of seconds. In the traditional mattress industry around 74% of the product price is profit margin, so cutting out the middle man means keeping prices down. Casper only offers one style of mattress that costs between $500 and $950, depending on the size. ‘It’s only a fraction of what you’d spend to get comparable material at traditional retail,’ explains Krim. Casper isn’t the only startup attempting to shake up the traditional bricks and mortar bedding business. New competitors like Tuft and Needle, Saatva and Yogabed are rapidly jumping on the ‘mattress in a box’ band-wagon and cutting out the expensive middleman.
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