Is business booming that much for these places to be popping up everywhere?

7/28/2016 8:13:23 AM

errybody sleeps

7/28/2016 8:19:13 AM

Profit margins are huge. Mattresses are really simple things but they charge thousands.

7/28/2016 9:18:44 AM

i'm going to steal this thread

yo, where can I get an extra long bed? not that california king bullshit, but something like 90" long

7/28/2016 9:40:01 AM

they're always going out of business tho.

7/28/2016 10:15:43 AM

^^http://www.rockymountainmattress.com/custom-mattress-size

[Edited on July 28, 2016 at 10:19 AM. Reason : ]

7/28/2016 10:19:23 AM

http://freakonomics.com/podcast/mattress-store-bubble/

7/28/2016 11:52:51 AM

can i get a tl;dr version of that^?

7/28/2016 11:51:47 PM

As with many, many things now there is almost no need to go to a store to buy a mattress. The markups are absofuckinglutely absurd. I mean, it's almost beyond the pale like buying new tires at the BMW dealership level of ripoff.

http://sleepopolis.com/mattress-reviews/casper-vs-leesa-vs-tuft-needle-vs-saatva-mattress-review/

Just buy your next one online or if you really are concerned go to a store and then buy it at costco or sams club.

7/29/2016 1:39:45 AM

^
actually, this kinda illustrates a point I've never quite understand about online shopping

if ima buy a mattress, I want to physically lie down on it first, make sure it's comfortable

I mean, what if it's too hard/soft? it seems like some in-person testing is really desirable. I'm the same way with blue jeans - most blue jeans are too damned heavy for me, I like the light fabric (whatever the hell the distinction actually is - some jeans just feel lighter than others.)

7/29/2016 2:10:24 AM

Pretty much every online mattress offers a pretty long trial/refund period so there's that. I think the margin markup is the reason that you can't buy a sealy or serta on amazon. I believe they have their own online stores though.

I've long argued that pretty much everything is going online except for things that require you to try it on/use it (clothing, sporting goods for example) and fresh food (almost nobody will buy online meat). If you aren't offering a unique, niche item or something that needs to be physically manipulated to purchase, your time as a retailer is over.

I think eventually you'll see a lot of stores shrunk in size and exist only as showrooms for stuff like furniture and mattresses, even more so than they have today. The cost of leasing retail space, staffing it, utilities, etc. is just really prohibitive unless you have huge margins and you just can't do that against online competition.

As for clothes, I haven't bought khakis, jeans, dress shirts, polos, or athletic shoes anywhere but online for at least 5 years. I know my size, what brands I like, etc. There's really no reason to go to footlocker or Macy's ever again.

7/29/2016 2:33:58 AM

Quote :

"Pretty much every online mattress offers a pretty long trial/refund period so there's that"

Highly untrue. I used to sell mattresses in college. Tempurpedic and maybe one other brand have a good return policy unless you go to a chain, which will be higher priced. It is illegal to resell used mattresses in NC but chains have return programs that ship the used ones to states where it's legal. Just make the correct decision the first time. It really isn't rocket science.

I learned a good bit about the business. Each manufacturer puts out a line, but individual stores sell the mattresses in this line by different names to eliminate price matching. Find out the specs of the line. Look for foam encasement/coil count/thickness of memory foam/thickness of latex any other foams/and lastly what you like laying on for the mattress that fits you. Take notes, go home, get online, and find the mattress in the same line that matches up with the specs of the one you want and buy for cheaper. It will be called something different, but they are the same. If you prefer to buy in store, always haggle. Avg profit margin is 48% but you can talk them down a good bit (5-10% of purchase price). Always barter for free frame and delivery. If you are spending a large chunk (usually over 1k), you can get free frame, delivery, and a protect a bed. Protect a beds usually run around 60-80 bucks and are totally worth it. They keep skin flakes from getting into your mattress which attract dust mites. Mites/flakes can increase the weight of your mattress by 1/3 throughout it's lifetime, which is pretty gross.

7/29/2016 3:43:52 AM

Quote :

" I mean, what if it's too hard/soft? it seems like some in-person testing is really desirable. "

A few years ago we were shopping for a new mattress and went around to all the stores to find out what we liked. We were looking at memory foam mattresses like the iComfort. Once we found out what we liked, we then ordered a mattress online from Costco. We slept on it for about a month before determining it was just a little too firm for our liking. So we called up Costco and they came out and picked it up and refunded us 100%. We got the mattress that was one level softer and have loved it ever since.

Quote :

" It is illegal to resell used mattresses in NC "

Is this just for mattress stores? Because stores like Habitat Restore sell used mattresses all the time

[Edited on July 29, 2016 at 6:58 AM. Reason : .]

7/29/2016 6:57:07 AM

Quote :

"can i get a tl;dr version of that^?"

Mattress stores have very little overhead so they're cheap to pop up, Mattress Firm is buying up all competition so that's why you see their stores everywhere, and there is pent-up demand due to the recession and housing crash. Now that people are buying houses once again they are buying mattresses again.

Demand is still trending up so we'll continue to see an increase in stores for a while. However, in my opinion it probably isn't sustainable long-term.

7/29/2016 10:33:49 AM

heard Casper advertising on a few podcasts i listen too...they have a 100 day return policy, i believe. haven't used them though.

7/29/2016 10:58:34 AM

Quote :

"Highly untrue. I used to sell mattresses in college."

How is that untrue? He said the online Mattress places like Casper, Tuft and Needle, Leesa etc have long trial/refund periods. How is that untrue? That's a core component of their business model.

7/29/2016 11:17:49 AM

90 percent of mattresses that you find in stores (not online) cannot be returned.

7/29/2016 3:00:34 PM

I agree. But you quoted the following and said it was untrue

Quote :

"Pretty much every online mattress offers a pretty long trial/refund period so there's that"

7/29/2016 3:06:53 PM

Yeah. Missed that. U right

7/29/2016 3:19:00 PM