Changing retail dynamics in the Indian mattress industry

The Mordor Intelligence’s report on Mattress Industry in India Size & Share Analysis – Growth Trends & Forecasts (2025 – 2030), states, “The India Mattress market size is estimated at USD 2.31 billion in 2025 and is expected to reach USD 3.48 billion by 2030, at a CAGR of 8.4 per cent during the forecast period (2025-2030).”

Here it is to be noted that the organised mattress segment (comprising of branded manufacturers and formal retail channels) is growing at a fast pace in the country. This could be gauged from the fact that the organised segment (accounting 40 per cent of the market) is expected to grow at a CAGR of 17 per cent compared to slower growth in the unorganised sector. Hence, with the organised sector expanding and other developments like online platforms giving tough competition to the traditional models, retailers are reimagining the way mattresses are presented, marketed and sold. Thus, having been dominated previously by small format Multi-Brand Dealers (MBDs) and Multi-Brand Stores (MBOs), the market presently focuses more on the large-format retail stores, experience retailing, Exclusive Brand Outlets (EBOs), Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) brands and technologically advanced omnichannel marketing strategies. With this article, let us venture into the transforming mattress retail dynamics that is remodeling the Indian mattress market focusing on the salient trends, challenges and prospects.

What drives the customers’ purchase decision?

Prior to discussing retail dynamics within the mattress market, it becomes important to examine consumer behaviour and what influences their buying decision because that also affects the mattress retail business. Consumers are getting increasingly educated, knowledgeable and demanding these days. So, mattress purchase now depends on factors such as health consciousness, product attributes, price-value relation[1]ship and brand trust. Also, customers value technologically advanced products more and prefer trial periods, peer reviews, online rating and personalised recommendations. So, if mattress brands have to attract customers, then they have to adopt those retail strategies that can increase the sales of their products by considering the above mentioned points.

The importance of mattress retail

Unlike other consumer goods, mattresses still require a tactile evaluation which makes the retail experience crucial. In addition, the Indian market, characterised by diverse consumer preferences and regional variations, adds layers of complexity to mattress retailing. So, the interplay between the traditional MBOs, EBOs, Large-Format Retailers (LFRs) and online platforms can create a multifaceted distribution landscape

where the strengths and weaknesses of each channel can have a great impact on the brand’s success. Simply put, the mattress market is a unique and complex space where the strengths and weaknesses of distribution channels can play quite a pivotal in the success and performance of any brand and in turn, the overall industry.

Here is a look at all the traditional as well as growing distribution channels in the mattress retail segment that have and can affect the mattress industry to a very large extent.

Customers value technologically advanced products and prefer trial periods, peer reviews, online ratings, and personalized recommendations..

The major strength of MBOs are…

• Since they have been operational since a long time, they have the local trust and loyalty.
• These stores allow customers to see all the mattresses under one roof and compare the prices and this works in their favour. However, challenges associated with MBOs are no less.
• MBOs face major price wars and margin pressures.
• The salespersons at these stores have limited product knowledge and are only efficient at giving out generic details about each mattress product.
• There is lack of brand-controlled consumer experience at these stores.

Talking about the issues with MBOs, Amarinder Singh, Head- Sales, Marketing & Operations, Pyarelal Foams Pvt Ltd and Pyarelal Agro & Exports Pvt Ltd, says, “Generally at MBO’s, retailers don’t understand the customer needs. They only focus on selling those products that are available in stock or on which they get better margins. So, these stores might end up selling a spring mattress to a customer having back pain because they only have those options in the stock and when the customers starts complaining that the product is not good or not solving their sleep-related issue, then the MBOs ask them to call the brand itself and this causes problems for the customers as well as the brands. In addition, such stores only focus on selling mattresses; while there are other sleep products also like pillows, covers etc., but these retailers don’t even display them. So, brands suffer the most.

Thus, today, given the above challenges and with the growing brand conscious consumers, MBO’s are slowly losing market share to more immersive and informative retail formats.

EBOs and Experience Centers

As the Indian mattress market is evolving from price-driven purchases to value and experience-oriented shopping, EBOs are emerging as the prime pillars of modern retail strategy. So, what are EBOs typically? Well, they are brand-owned and brand-managed outlets that serve as both sales channels and brand-building platforms. These outlets typically showcase the entire product portfolio of the brand ranging from basic to high-end models and offer an end-to-end experience involving understanding the customer needs, imparting product education and then offering in-store trials, customisation and even comfortable financing solutions.

A retail strategy would benefit customers by simplifying their decision-making, while also enabling retailers to achieve higher average order values, improved margins across product verticals, and an extended customer lifetime value..

EBOs especially focus on.

• The touch and feel of the product by offering trials.
• They employ not salespersons but sleep consultants who educate the customers first and then sell.

Key advantages offered by the EBOs are:

1. Full brand control: EBOs give mattress brands complete autonomy over product display and merchandising, store layout and ambiance, training and performance of sales staff, pricing, promotions and after-sales policies.
2. Margin control: Bypassing dealers and selling directly, through EBOs, brands can retain higher margins and reduce price undercutting.
3. Loyalty creation: EBOs also make upselling and bundling easier as customers interact directly with the brand-trained staff.
4. Enhanced customer experience: Unlike the traditional stores which focus only on sales, EBOs prioritise customer experience and consultations with the trained sleep experts.
5. Personalisation and customisation: EBOs allow brands to offer custom mattress sizing and sleep accessories (like pillows, protectors, toppers and linen) curated for different sleep types.
6. Consumer insights: With direct access to customers, brands can easily gather data on preferences, feedback and post-sale behaviour fueling future product development.

Singh shares, “EBOs not just focus on mattresses rather they keep all the sleep solutions including mattress covers, pillows etc. So, when a customer comes to an EBO, he gets all the sleep solutions under one roof. He can see and compare various products of the same brand side by side. Thus, EBOs are definitely the future of mattress retail as people still prefer to see the mattress through their eyes before buying it.”

Drawing a comparison between MBOs and EBOs, Pandit notes, “MBOs stack the mattress vertically or just one after the other but that is not the case with the EBOs where mattresses are properly displayed and customers can touch and feel the mattress properly before making a purchase decision. Also MBOs just focus on selling the mattress without understanding the needs of the customers. However, that is not the case with EBOs where sleep consultants give personal attention to the customers and guide them to purchase the best mattress product as per their need.”

At present, many mattress brands are increasingly investing in their own EBOs and flagship Experience Centers and have opened such stores in metros and mini-metros, offering immersive and guided experiences to their customers. Ravi Pandit, Director-Sales & Marketing, Repose, notes, “Earlier only brands like Kurlon had their EBOs, now many other mattress brands are coming up.”

Some of the examples include Sleepwell which has come up with its unique EBO focusing on ‘My Mattress’ concept offering premium in-store consultation and design. The brand operates more than 3,000 exclusive showrooms and dealers under its Sleepwell World format. Duroflex, another leading player, has launched premium stores called Duroflex Experience Centres in many cities focusing on wellness and technology. It allows its customers to engage with products using in-store technology such as sleep score assessments and product comparison tools.

While effective, the EBO model face certain challenges too like high capital expenditure for store design, problems with employing trained staff, managing large inventory, high location costs in premium urban areas and long gestation period before achieving breakeven. However, these challenges are very less as compared to the benefits offered by the EBOs. So, the future will see more brands opting for EBOs to achieve profitability in the long run and serve the customers in the best possible manner.

Large-format retail stores

Encompassing multi-category offerings, these expansive retail spaces are increasingly becoming popular and helping in driving mattress sales to a very large extent across the country. The LFRs like Saravana Stores, Total Superstore (prominent in South India), Home Centre, Reliance Home etc., have added new dynamics to the mattress retail. They are offering mattresses alongside appliances, furniture and home goods, driving synergy in consumer buying behaviour.

With an annual turnover of approximately ₹2,495 crore in 2023 as reported by the company, Saravana Stores have exemplified the integration of mattresses into multi-category retail formats.

On the other hand, Home Centre, part of the Landmark Group, is also expanding rapidly with over 75 stores across major Indian cities and drawing consumers seeking convenience, variety and value. These stores offer channels for brands to present not only products but lifestyle solutions typically accompanied by seasonal offers and festive packs.

Their bundling strategy not only enhances convenience but also encourages higher spending per customer visit

Pandit says, “Earlier people used to buy the bed from the local carpenter and then came to the mattress store to get the mattress that fitted the size of the bed. This trend has now changed. Now, people buy the mattress along with the bed only. This works in favour of the LFRs. These days, there are a lot of large-scale stores selling everything from furniture to mattress. In fact, some LFRs like Damro have their own set of mattresses that are manufactured in-house. The main benefit with large-scale format is that they have huge space to display the products and this helps the customers to make the purchase decision easily.”

Various advantages offered by LFRs include

• One-stop destination for all the home essentials including mattress.
• They often see high footfall and the brand exposure is much wider at these stores.
• They also offer opportunities for cross-selling. So, chances are that the customer might not have come to buy the mattress particularly, but seeing many good options, he may end up buying one.

The emergence of LFRs has greatly impacted the consumer shopping habits. They have offered so much ease to the customers, that they are likely to shop from the LFRs that offer holistic shopping experience and allow them to compare various products and brands in a single location. Singh notes, “It is the overall shopping experience in the LFRs that attracts the customers the most. Also, they get to choose from a large variety.”

This trend can be strongly observed in the metro cities where the busy customers appreciate the convenience and variety provided by the LFRs. “In future, collaborations with prominent LFRs can allow mattress brands to tap into the established customer bases and leverage the retailers’ marketing and promotional capabilities,” Pandit shares

In future, the prime challenge with LFRs would be gaining ground in smaller cities of the country where they have no presence. So, LFRs need to formulate strategies in this regard to spread in other cities other than the metros.

The rise of D2C brands in the wake of online shopping trend

The rise in online shopping trend after the Covid-19 pandemic gave rise to many D2C mattress brands in the country which brought about a revolution in the mattress retail segment. Over the the last few years, several D2C brands such as Wakefit, SleepyCat, The Sleep Company and a few others have emerged. They have challenged the conventional supply chains by providing direct-to-consumer sales through their online websites and marketplaces. By cutting down on the middlemen, these brands provide competitive pricing, convenience and innovative solutions. The strategic measures adopted by D2C brands are mattress-in-a-box innovation, trial periods, simple returns and doorstep delivery, content marketing and influencer partnerships.

Particularly, Wakefit’s popularity and growth is remark[1]able. Launched in 2016, Wakefit recorded 24 per cent jump in its FY24 revenue, highlighting that D2C brands have a very bright future. It brought a change in the mattress market by offering affordable and high-quality memory foam mattresses, a 100-night free trial and strong after-sales service.

Another D2C brand i.e., The Sleep Company, known for its patented SmartGRID technology leveraged on its R&D to differentiate its product offering. This company has successfully positioned itself at the premium-tech end of the D2C spectrum.

Pioneering the concept of India’s first mattress-in-a-box in 2017, D2C brand SleepyCat focused on sustainability and comfort at mid-tier price points. It offers adjustable bases, bamboo covers, and pet beds, thus, creating a diversified product ecosystem while maintaining online-first efficiency.

Here is a quick look at the prime reasons behind the D2C brands’ boom in the country

1. Digital adoption and e-commerce penetration: The increase in usage of smartphones, digital payments and trust in online shopping has definitely given a boom to D2C mattress brands.
2. Consumer behavior shifts: Given that the millennials and Gen Z with high spending power constitute a substantial portion of the Indian population, they are more likely to search the products online, value convenience and doorstep delivery, prioritise customer reviews and social proof and prefer transparent and no-haggle pricing. This also has given a boost to the D2C brands.
3. Technological innovations: D2C brands have introduced various innovations like mattress-in-a-box format, making use of vacuum-packing technology which has made logistics and delivery more efficient. They have also integrated tools such as online comfort assessment quizzes, AI-based recommendation engines to simulate online in-store experiences. All this has definitely increased the popularity of the D2C brands.

What more? D2C brands have also redefined mattress marketing in India. Instead of traditional TV and print ads, they rely heavily on influencer partnerships and YouTube reviews, Instagram campaigns with interactive polls and humour, educational blogs, newslettersand webinars on sleep health and collaborations with fitness and wellness platforms. This content-led, community-driven approach has helped the D2C brands to establish credibility and emotional resonance with the consumers.

While D2C models offer tremendous advantages, they also face challenges.

• High customer acquisition cost in crowded digital marketplace.
• Difficulty in return logistics and reverse supply chain complexity due to trial periods.
• Lower trial-to-conversion rates as compared to in-store selling.

In order to tackle these issues, many D2C players are building localised warehouses to reduce delivery timelines and using AI for predictive inventory and personalisation.

In the years ahead, the D2C mattress ecosystem in India is expected to diversify and consolidate, with mergers, brand extensions and cross-category partnerships like with fitness tech companies etc. Pandit notes, “D2C mattress brands are picking up fast in the country. They are giving tough competition to offline retail stores especially in the prime cities and metros. However, still customers in small towns and cities prefer to go to exclusive stores of brands to purchase the products.”

The future of mattress sales: Omnichannel retailing

Neither online nor offline, the future of mattress sales is omnichannel retailing which blends both physical and digital shopping experiences and offers best of both the worlds to the customers. So, customers can research online, compare options and then visit the store to finalise their purchase or even vice-versa. Some of the brands have already opted for this model by adopting strategies that combine the reach of e-commerce with the experiential benefits of physical stores. This approach not only broadens market access but also enhances customer engagement and loyalty.

For instance, the brand Wakefit, which began as an on[1]line-only brand, has now established more that 50 offline stores in key Indian cities. This model of Wakefit allows customers to explore mattress specifications online, schedule store visits and sleep consultations, place an order in-store or complete it online later and enjoy centralised order tracking and unified customer support.

Even the online brand SleepyCat has opened its experience centers in a few cities to complement its online presence, offering consumers multiple avenues to interact with the brand. Here, even Duroflex deserves a mention as it offers both online and offline retail options to its mattresses.

The major benefits of opting omnichannel retailing are…

• It leads to greater brand recall.
• It easily helps in building trust among the customers.
• This model leads to enhanced inventory visibility and logistics support for the brands.

Pandit avers, “The major change came in the mattress retail segment post Covid-19. Earlier, Multi-Brand Outlets (MBOs) domi[1]nated the scene, but after the pandemic, online shopping trend was increased. So, brands started focusing on omnichannel presence. This allows the customers to choose the mattress online but go to the store to make the final purchase decision.”

What makes omnichannel retailing successful is the fact that unlike other impulse purchases, mattress buying is still believed to be a high-consideration and high-involvement decision. So, consumers want the convenience of online research and comparisons, the confidence of physical trial and comfort checks and flexible return policies especially with premium products. In addition, they also want expert advice, certification and after-sales support, all of which is possible through omnichannel retailing.

However, there are some challenges also that are associated with omnichannel retailing

1. High infrastructure costs: Setting up physical stores, training staff and managing inventory across channels comes with a cost.
2. Data issues: Integrating CRM and website data for unified insights is difficult.
3. Customer experience consistency: Ensuring seam[1]less service across platforms and geographies is also a daunting task
4. Returns management: Harmonising online/offline returns and exchange policies is difficult too.

Dinesh Jain, Managing Director, Dreamcare Enterprises, says, “There is no doubt that online would be the future of mat[1]tress sales, yet offline stores would not be wiped off completely. The presence of both the platforms will drive the success for mat[1]tress brands. So ommnichannel retailing is here to stay.” Despite the challenges, omnichannel retailing is definitely the future of the mattress industry and all the mattress brands need to gear up to embrace it.

Consolidation of categories would be on the cards too!

Given that increasingly customers are looking for holistic solutions, in future, retailers and brands would offer bundling product categories. This retail strategy would benefit the customers by simplifying their decision making and even retailers would be able to enjoy higher average order values, improved margins across product verticals and extended customer lifetime value. At present, Saravana Store and Home Centre are pioneers among them offering mattresses alongside furniture and white goods.

Here, it is to be noted that furniture brands such as IKEA and Urban Ladder have also started integrating sleep solutions into their offering, blurring category lines and encouraging collaborative selling models. Now, cross-brand partnerships, such as mattress brands collaborating with home décor or electronics firms, are also beginning to emerge, thereby, allowing for combined offers and specifically curated bedroom solutions.

To sum up

The Indian mattress industry is in the midst of a retail revolution. From traditional dealer networks to data-driven omnichannel models, the shift is being propelled by consumer empowerment, tech-enabled solutions and brand innovation. As new entrants challenge old methods and organised players scale up, the mattress retail landscape is ripe with opportunity and disruption alike.

In order to remain competitive, mattress brands must embrace experiential retailing, balance price, quality and service, leverage omnichannel platforms and monitor trends through reliable data sources like Indian Sleep Products Federation (ISPF). ISPF is committed to tracking market trends periodically, with a focus on retail channel evolution, product mix and pricing and consumer preferences and brand positioning. This can surely assist companies to face changes sweeping the marketplace, in terms of new players, concepts, channels and innovations in the market. By accessing the retail data as generated by ISPF, mattress brands can detect early signals of change and optimise supply chains, marketing and retail footprints in an efficient way

Having said that, today, mattress retail is no longer just about selling products, rather it is about delivering sleep solutions and holistic experience that aligns with the evolving lifestyle of the customers. The winners in this change would be those brands which take up innovation more than often, connect meaningfully with all the parties involved in mattress selling and execute consistently across every customer touch point.

Throwing light on the future, Singh concludes, “In times to come, there would be more mergers and acquisition in the mattress segments. Smaller players will shut down or will be merged with the bigger mattress brands.” So, let’s see what more changes will be seen in the mattress retail segment. Whatever the changes are, the mattress retail segment has to embrace them with an open heart, so that they reach their customers effectively.