Saves nine annoyed customers. Yes, believe it or not, the age of customisation of mattresses and sleeping products has arrived. But what is waking up and what is interrupting this new industry wave?
Getting a mattress was enough. One ‘had’ to make peace with it. Irrespective of one’s body type, sleeping position, preferences and quirks about sleep; there was always that ‘one mattress for all’.
But like a couple in Bangalore who had different requirements and sought personalized mattresses, there is something adrift across mattress aisles. If one person has back issues and the other needs a softer feel, sooner or later, they will both need a personalised product instead of something that they both have to compromise on.
That is happening. People are not only asking for but also getting, mattresses that can indulge one person’s needs ‘exclusively’. Yes, from firmness level, number of layers, splits, height, frame, and spine alignment to temporary adjustments – mattresses have entered new contours of customer satisfaction. They are ready for a much-due industry evolution – the era of ‘Customisation’.
Various ways of customisation
Size! That comes fixed from the company. As Mr Sameer Kalra, Owner, Maharaja Furnishings, Rajasthan points out, “The only possibility at our end is simply cutting as per customer’s requirement, and that too only for foam mattresses. For spring and coir formats, this size-cutting can only happen at the company’s end. The support, or special needs, for this aspect or something else – that a retailer needs help on- only gets a manufacturer’s attention when a considerable level of sales is accomplished.”
Turn to Mr. Mahendra Pokharna, Head of a Sleepwell showroom (Vinayak Showroom) in Udaipur, and he would also say that yes, size is the main customization need that has emerged in the market. “Most models come with a fixed configuration and size is the only thing that we can personalize for a customer. It is a market of about 60 percent non-standard sales right now. Most companies address these non-standard size requirements upon order. It takes anything from three days to ten days for the company to furnish a requirement.”
There is something adrift across mattress aisles. Consumers are not only asking for but also getting, mattresses that can indulge one person’s needs ‘exclusively’. From a personal preference of surface firmness levels(extra firm or soft), mattress built-up customization, doctor’s recommendation for spine alignment, mattress size & shape, thickness, number of layers, splits, height, and frame, to temporary adjustments – mattresses have entered new contours of customer satisfaction. Consumers are ready for a much- due to industry evolution – the era of ‘Customization’.
In Mr Mahendra Pokharna’s assessment, most customers are satisfied with the level of size and quality that is available now, with no other peculiar customisation needs spotted yet. Mr Sameer Kalra also says that right now 6/6 and a half inches, three by 6-one-fourth inches etc. are dominating the market in contrast to the just one size of six by three inches that was prevalent earlier.
But that is bound to change as times roll on. Are we not spotting Casper, Rocky Mountain, Tempflow, Helix Quiz, Create-a-Mattress, Dreamfoam, Reverie, Luxi, PlushBeds and ReST chasing a new market opportunity – ‘lack of customisation’? The offerings and options that some players, both new and old, have started to bring onto the shelves are truly unprecedented. They do not make a customer adjust to a mattress but do the opposite. They ask for, anticipate, and adjust to a customer’s unique needs – and then give a mattress that fits her/him to the T.
A look at a spectrum of ways in which customisation is showing its unmistakable presence will tell a lot about this big industry shift. Today, mattresses cannot afford to be just mattresses. Customers can be offered a buffet of alternatives to get a really bespoke mattress:
Just what the Doctor ordered
Well, a Helix survey notes remarkable variations in sleeping positions to start with. It revealed that 66 percent of customers are side-sleepers, 18 percent are back-sleepers, 16 percent are stomach sleepers and 35 percent wake up with back pain. To add to these differences, there is another preference box. There was 51 percent tend to sleep hot, 28 percent like a plush-feel bed, 32 percent like a firm-feel bed and 60 percent like a medium-feel bed.
Medical experts and holistic wellness consultants confirm the argument that such numbers often make. “People have forgotten to sleep right. They do not even know what position they sleep in. How can we expect them to sleep right when they sleep in a sad state of awareness thanks to the addiction spree of alcohol, blue screens and poor lifestyle choices?” Dr. Saroj Sharma, Head, Kala Ashram Wellness Centre who gets severe cases of insomnia and depression at the centre, cautions about the heightened need for a conscious choice in sleeping right.
Many medical practitioners have often lamented poor sleeping position as both a cause and an effect of back pain. Maintaining the natural curves of the spine in bed is essential, but not so easy. If a doctor recommends someone with a herniated disc to sleep in a foetal position or if someone with lower back pain is prescribed a reclined position– we know that the way we sleep is not a trivial matter when it comes to spine health. Stress on the back, head and shoulders can be easily controlled by using the right mattress. And for that; cognizance of what one needs, and lacks, is crucial.
Dr Yatin J Patel, a board-certified pulmonologist, published author and sleep physician who is a passionate advocate of a lifestyle founded on healthy and happy living, corroborates Dr Saroj Sharma’s concerns when he talks about the poor state of sleep health in India. “Sleep health globally has been ignored and more so in rapidly developing countries like India. The young population in our nation is so preoccupied with chasing success that it ends up ignoring sleep quantitatively, and more importantly, qualitatively. This sleep deficit retards their executive performance. Their creativity, problem-solving, and optimism get adversely affected.”
Dr. Yatin J Patel observes, and deals with, a lot of sleep disorders at his private practice, Sneeze & Snooze Clinic, Indiana. As the Medical Director of the Center for Sleep Studies at Goshen Hospital and ‘The World’s Only Sleep Doc with a Notre Dame MBA’, as he prefers to introduce himself, Dr. Yatin J Patel makes sense when he points out the unique differences that every individual has pertaining to the way one sleeps. “Yes, within a predefined range, each of us has unique sleep needs. My wife needs six-and-a-half hours to feel alert and energetic all day, while I need seven hours of sound sleep to be at my best. According to the task force convened by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the National Sleep Foundation, we need sound sleep of seven hours – give or take thirty minutes.”
He welcomes the burst of new sleep products that aim to fill the void of unique sleep needs. However, he maintains that the bigger issue is our lack of focus and our ignorance as to the importance of sleep in helping us live a full and productive life. “Once you have made that commitment to getting a sound sleep of seven hours, then you can look for products that can help you achieve that.”
These insights and questions find an echo elsewhere too. Mr. Tushaar Gautam, Director, Sheela Foam observes that the fundamental research that is underway at the company (on the basic science of sleep) has revealed different needs for different kinds of bodies. The issue that the industry, hence, confronts is ‘how to communicate this to customers – through sales channels, doctors and other means’. “We are getting there. As of now, to understand the value of customisation and pay money for customisation – that is still far off for India, except for a few customers.”
A peek from the other side
Making good listeners in the form of mattresses is not going to help users alone. It is good lumbar support for the industry as well.
Mattresses receive the least bit of attention while making homes. But, gradually the urban Indians are realizing the importance of good sleep and its direct impact on our health. Mr. Gaurav Gulati is a noted branding expert, author and Personal Branding & Brand Engagement Consultant. “Hence, the mattress industry – by encouraging customisation – is providing the consumer with simple, smart, and effective sleep solutions. Sound sleep makes a sound mind!”
However, such an evolution also needs new models and approaches from the industry so that customisation is a durable, pervasive and easy-to-execute strategy.
The platform-based approach pioneered by brands like Casper is worth reckoning with while discussing customisation in the industry. Casper, as Mr. Daveed Kuruvilla, Director, Restolex Coir Products Pvt Ltd notes, was revolutionary in its implementation of a new business model of selling directly to the end consumer. “This sort of approach would work anywhere as it reduces prices for the customer, provides trial periods etc. When this approach began, players like Casper marketed their product as a mattress that’s perfect for all. This clearly was not the case as different people like different things. Now Casper offers multiple types of mattresses, even incorporating springs. So would the approach of selling directly to customers online work? Most definitely. Would marketing one mattress to suit all work? Probably not.”
Mr. Gaurav Gulati explains this from a marketer’s angle as well. “If Casper manages to position itself as a perfectly-priced premium brand with good storytelling, trust me, they will be unstoppable after all Crocs footwear success in India too is completely based on comfort and health, who wears it for fashion and style. Yeah, it may be a show-off for some.”
But Mr. Gaurav Gulati also underlines the demand side here. “Basically, what all customers consider while purchasing a mattress is their health condition and sleeping experience on a particular mattress.”
Mr. Nirbhay Gupta, CEO, Coirfit Mattress observes that with a paradigm shift in the choices of consumers, it has become mandatory to cater to the fast-growing demands of the consumers. “We have been in the industry for more than 31 years but the amount of customisation requests we get every day is nothing compared to the scenario 30 years ago.”
He explains how an entire mattress customisation is now possible based on the choice of fabric type, edge design, size, comfort level and even the inside-layer configuration. “Therefore, we give an option to provide a completely customized mattress while guiding the user about the various advantages of different mattress layers. We understand when it comes to health; there should be no scope of carelessness or misguidance.”
While customers are willing to experiment with a hybrid of latex + memory-foam mattress or a medium comfort memory-foam mattress, Mr Nirbhay Gupta stresses that the company does not believe in crafting the same for them till the time it is made sure it will completely suit the user’s body. “Because it is not just about selling a product but also about proffering a good sleep experience to the end user.”
“With more than a million satisfied customers, Coirfit has a wide range of mattresses made to suit each person’s sleeping needs. We aim to deliver the best mattresses keeping in mind all the preferences of the buyer. To accommodate our customer’s demands, we rely on every major to minor attention while designing the mattress. From mattress comfort to mattress look, we work towards developing innovative, yet personalized, sleep systems for the users.”
So customisation is good, but how much of it can be real?
The Real Cut
There are many factors that can add new arguments on the customisation aspect when one looks beneath the superficial layers. Mr. Saurabh Sharma, General Manager, Godrej Interio, says, the customisation of mattresses is an interesting scenario in our country. During our research, we found that there is an absolute lack of awareness. Today, in India, branded companies are serving only 15 percent of the bed requirement. The remaining 85 percent get their bed made by local manufacturers or carpenters. Many of them, including the customers approaching them don’t know that the standards exist. The relevance of standardisation is important when you need many items from different companies to complete the solution. Hardware industry, Sanitary industry, and Construction industry are some of the examples. For using the bed for sleeping purpose, you need many other items like mattress, bedsheets, pillows etc which is manufactured by different companies. In order to get everything fitted well on the bed, standardisation is a must. We observed that customers build their beds without the knowledge of this and later get into the trouble of buying customised mattresses, bed sheets etc. which will end up being an expensive and time-consuming affair for them.
Mr Saurabh Sharma slices the issue further and says, that though we are well equipped to do customisation of any model, we are encouraging our customers and channel partners to promote standard variants for their benefit of them. This will help reduce waste of material, time, and effort and in the end, help us offer our products at a highly competitive price and faster delivery.
If the mattress industry in India is ready to give that ease, comfort, and experience to the people; that Casper gave to its customers and could grow exponentially, the model can be worked out here too, reasons Mr. Gaurav Gulati.
This strategy can disrupt and challenge many legacy models and complacent players. But the rewards can be attractive enough. After all, what better and deeper way of creating differentiation and loyalty than giving a customer something that fits like a square peg in a square box, unlike the ‘square peg in a round hole’ options that customers have been living with for years now? This also makes sense because mattresses are still, comparatively a low-frequency but a high-involvement purchase in a customer’s life-cycle. Customization caters to not just physiological differences but psychological ones too– and with a real tangible product – not just a brochure.
“Fixtures and position of layers can make a really big change in mattress formation. We are always eager to guide the end users about the properties and functions of different materials used in mattress making. Therefore, we aim to fulfil these orders with our expertise and knowledge and to help these consumers get a mattress that fits them instead of a ‘one size fits all’.” Coirfit’s Mr Nirbhay Gupta adds.
Mr. Daveed Kuruvilla adds that any mattress maker who values their brand name would have to positively align themselves with sleep and wellness issues, regardless of being an online player or a brick-and-mortar/touch-and-feel player.
Users are more aware, as Coirfit’s Mr Nirbhay Gupta explains, than before regarding their health and have become extremely conscious while picking a mattress for themselves. “Whether they buy their sleep haven online or offline, they are inclined to research about it before opting for one. A concomitant aspect of this research and their needs leads to an inception of getting a mattress customised to suit their body preferences. However, as sleep experts, it falls into our hands to make sure that each product offering is genuine and eases their sleep-related issue.”
It is about time. It seems.
Pebbles in the Nest
But customisation costs. Not only to the customer who is still facing heavy-priced labels for purchasing custom-made stuff but also to the mattress maker. After all, it is a process that entails special materials and special effort. The special manufacturing costs include not only the coils and layers needed in never-before varieties and assortments but also the expenses of hand-made mattresses. Let us also not forget to count on all the special manpower force that designs, engineers creates and assembles custom-built mattresses.
Customisation, as industry players will aver, is an expensive foray. It is not always cost-effective.
The mattress industry never encourages customisation of their mattresses, but they are left with no option when sales of furniture beds are non-standardised and due to this, mattress competitors, too, supply customised mattresses to retailers – as a candid Mr Nitin Gupta from King Koil India also reveals.
To add to that, there is a trial period that is a make-it-or-break-it rule of the new game.
Casper gives both to the customers. It offers, along with the painless purchase experience, a trial period of 100 days. And if not satisfied full refund, Mr Gourav Gulati observes. “The full refund is the most motivating strategy for Indian Consumers, let’s not forget Amazon’s Customisation of sizes in the Indian mattress industry is a major problem which brings a lot of growth- and opportunity-resistance for supplier players in the industry positioned itself in India highlighting ‘Hassel Free Returns & Refund’, and Flipkart, too, did the same. And this works perfectly for Indians.”
In the assessment of Mr. Nirbhay Gupta, even though there is a colossal urge for customised mattresses, not many brands are offering customisation besides basic size customisation. To quote around five to ten percent of orders are up for customisation and not much development is happening in the mattress industry related to these demands. “Only size customisations are being catered to.” Just like what retailer Kalra told us at the onset.
Customisation of sizes in the Indian mattress industry is a major problem which brings a lot of growth and opportunity resistance for supplier players in the industry. Mr. Nitin Gupta from King Koil India contends,
“Internationally there are about six to eight standard sizes, and brands improvise their production with the least wastage due to standardisation. This has been possible due to strong furniture associations to create beds of standard sizes, which looks absent in India.”
On the difficulty level for a manufacturer, Mr Tushaar Gautam dismisses some assumptions. “There are some opposing forces playing at each other.
The time constraint that most customers give in the way they demand mattresses – certainly makes it a little difficult for a player to customise. But the whole industry is designed to customise because of the way production can work. The basic module is there but certain attributes of customisation like layers, thickness etc. can be built upon this. Manufacturers are already customising based on size and all we need is some other aspects that can be blended in.
In any condition, it is important that customisation is sincere, authentic, enduring and definitely, not something that comes across as another sales gimmick.
To manage this 100 percent is not possible but yes, today people are smart buyers, Mr Gourav Gulati agrees. “They don’t simply buy anything, they know they have the right to express their experience with the brand. There may be one or two or say few people, who can be dodged, but once they leave their negative reviews about the product, the rest of the prospective buyers become alert. And today customers shop only after reading reviews.”
Mr. Daveed Kuruvilla feels that the onus of identifying a sales gimmick falls on the customer. “So for a brand’s marketing to be called out as a sales-gimmick with no real differentiation in their product, the customer will need to have done enough research and comparisons to see a product for what it is. If the customer knows what’s on the market they won’t fall for great marketing of an inferior product.”
This hints at a big role that industry players need to fill that will not just sell customised mattresses but ensure that people see it as a valid product proposition and need fulfilment. This is more than a functionality or a frill. It is about a psychological need that has to be addressed sincerely and smartly. It will, first, need a lot of homework; and, then, quite some legwork before one can confidently say that a customised mattress is up for grabs in one’s product menu.
Before you ask for Jeeves
The presence of unorganised players and lack of quality standards in the industry make the situation harder to navigate, as hinted at by some top industry players.
Mr. Nitin Gupta from King Koil India opines that till the time furniture associations in India really focus on this standardisation, almost nothing is possible at the level of mattress manufacturers. Needless to say, a government intervention looks like the best solution to enforce such a move.
More importantly, for customisation to truly work, players as well as customers would have to rise to a new mindset and responsibility. Dr. Saroj Sharma and Dr. Yatin J Patel both are emphatic about the dire need for better sleep hygiene and awareness in today’s stress-and-addiction-heavy lifestyles. People need to know how they sleep before they work on how to sleep better.
Even Mr Mahendra Pokharna, who is from the retail side, is worried about this huge lack of awareness that customers exhibit when it comes to good sleep. “People do not know when to change the mattress. To introduce experience stores would be a great idea, but basic awareness is something that needs to be first worked upon.”
Mr. Daveed Kuruvilla also weighs in on this factor as a pronounced one. “In order to encourage customisation of mattresses, we would first need to encourage educated customers. Customers would have to know about the materials used in mattresses, new technologies incorporated in these materials, their feel, longevity, etc. As mattresses are a low-frequency purchase this makes it challenging to have customers who are well-versed and have information enough to effectively customise their own mattresses.”
We should first start encouraging people to know about mattresses before we can encourage them to customise, he suggests. “That said, there is already a niche in the Indian market made up of customers who know exactly what they want and look for custom-made mattresses, and we are glad to help them with their specific needs. After all, we are in the mattress business to help people sleep.”
Gaps, in the assessment of Mr. Tushaar Gautam, are starker around the communication that happens between channels and customers. “Point-of-sale is a crucial 25 to 35 minutes of communication window where a lot can be achieved ahead.” However, he hopes that customization can help the industry in creating a niche market in the next four to five years.
These hopes resonate well with Mr. Gaurav Gulati’s optimism too. “India is an emerging nation with a lot of cash flow; buyers are willing to spend anything to experience something new and valuable.”
The issue, of course then, is our lack of focus and our ignorance as to the importance of sleep in helping us live a full and productive life, Dr. Yatin J Patel reminds us. “Once you have made that commitment to getting a sound sleep of seven hours, then you can look for products that can help you achieve that.” Providing healthy sleep is the root cause for the mattress industry to consider customisation. As Mr. Tushaar Gautam puts it industry has looked at customisation as an opportunity for future growth. Because, yes, what can be more valuable than a mattress that has been made specially for one’s sleeping whims, fancies and fantasies? Only one thing – A mind that can create such a mattress!