What should manufacturers do to make it a reality? With growing income levels, there has been an increase in the demand for customization & personalization of mattresses. While brands are making deliberate efforts to fulfil customized orders, certain challenges need to be tackled.
One of the key trends shaping the modern mattress industry in India is the shift towards innovative and customized mattresses and sleep products. As people look for sleeping solutions that cater to their specific needs and preferences, there is a growing demand for customised sleep solutions. Mattresses can be customised in terms of size, firmness, comfort, material and ergonomic support. According to a recent Technopak Analysis report, “Indian modern mattress market is witnessing increased demand for innovative products across price segments, as there has been a shift in consumer mindset towards products which provide more comfort and have good functionalities. Additionally, there has been an increase in demand for customized mattresses confirming body shapes and preferences as consumers are willing to spend more to have a better and more comfortable sleeping experience. Owing to such a shift in demand, modern mattress manufacturers are coming up with new products, having superior functionalities and are adding innovation to their offerings.”
At a time, when the Indian mattress industry is steadily registering growth and is still trying to command a bigger market share in the overall mattress market, is it feasible for manufacturers to deliver solutions with customization & personalization of Mattresses? In our last issue, we emphasized the need for standardization of mattresses as it will ensure efficiency in overall supply chain operations. The biggest problem concerning customized products is the non-utilization of the mattress in case of an order cancellation. There are numerous challenges for manufacturers while delivering sleep products with customization & personalization of mattresses. Is the industry ready to deal with these challenges? What can they do to make customization and personalization a reality? These are some areas that we intend to discuss in this article.
Need for customization
Consumers are now willing to pay those extra bucks for customization & personalization of mattresses. According to a Technopak Analysis report, “Indian modern mattress market is witnessing increased demand for innovative products across price segments, as there has been a shift in consumer mindset towards products which provide more comfort and have good functionalities. Additionally, there has been an increase in demand for customized mattresses confirming body shapes and preferences as consumers are willing to spend more to have a better and more comfortable sleeping experience. Owing to such a shift in demand, modern mattress manufacturers are coming up with new products, having superior functionalities and are adding innovation to their offerings.”
Brands are increasingly moving towards offering customized sleep solutions to their consumers to stay ahead of their peers both in the organized and unorganized segments. In the organized segment, digitally native brands offer custom-made mattresses based on customer preferences and requirements. These brands often provide online tools or consultations to help customers select the right mattress based on factors such as body type, sleeping position, and personal preferences. To stay ahead of their peers, reputed mattress brands also have to offer customized solutions.
As people look for sleeping solutions that cater to their specific needs and preferences, there is a growing demand for customized sleep solutions
Meanwhile, the unorganized local players are easily able to offer customization & personalization of mattresses to the consumers. And for any price-sensitive customer, the quality of products used in making those mattresses hardly matters. Hence, almost every brand in the organized segment must customize mattresses and personalize them as per consumer needs. If the organized players fail to customize mattresses for their consumers, they are more likely to lose their customers to unorganized peers. In India, the problem is the varied sizes of cots. While people would still change their mattresses, they do not change the cots and hence, a large number of Indian consumers wish to customize the size of the mattress to suit their existing cot.
Customized mattresses- How are manufacturers doing it?
While interacting with some industry experts, we figured out that almost every brand is making customization & personalization of mattresses possible for its customers and they promise to deliver it between 24 to 48 hours. “We can service any kind of customized product quickly from our 2 major manufacturing facilities and service centres across the country,” says Rohan Patel, Director-Sales at Refresh Mattress.
The Indian mattress industry is collectively working towards standardizing the sizes and firmness levels of the cots depending on the Body Mass Index (BMI) of customers. In recent years, the mattress industry has been stressing the need for standardization of mattresses and almost every brand is working on this area. ISPF has been working closely with all registered mattress companies in India to ensure that the industry embraces the standardization of mattresses. With all the market players manufacturing standard sizes of mattresses, it is easier to customize the mattresses to suit consumer requirements. “It is difficult to customize for the entire population. So, manufacturers generally have mattresses for different weight ranges. For instance, there are mattresses for different weight categories, subject to one’s Body Mass Index (BMI). Companies are taking data to know about customer’s preferences and based on that, they do extensive research. Customers can choose mattresses within this range of mattresses and if they want to modify their mattress further, it can be sized up in the store’s service centre, which is then delivered within 24 to 48 hours. So, from the standard size, we customize the mattress,” says S Sundaresan, Secretary, of the Indian Sleep Products Federation (ISPF).
The Indian mattress industry that earlier focussed on selling sleep products is now trying out various measures to sell the idea of sleep. Mattress manufacturers are now keener on selling comfortable sleep solutions than selling their existing range of products. Customers’ comfort is now being given a lot of priority for which, brands are investing a lot of resources towards their Research & Development (R&D) initiatives. Manufacturers are also trying to fulfil the implicit sleeping needs of their consumers. “I agree customization & personalization of mattresses demand is increasing at the same time the standard sizes ( percent) are also increasing YOY due to spike in readymade cots purchased by consumers vis-à-vis carpenter made cots. We have developed our products based on soft/firm/ extra firm feel with coir/foam/spring/sandwich cores to suit all sleeping styles like Tummy/Side/Back as well. We are constantly conducting dealer salesmen training programs to update their knowledge about our product FABs. We shared a “Quest for Questions” document with our dealer salesmen to engage Sunidra consumers while asking the right questions to suggest an ideal mattress. We are accepting personalized and customized mattress orders with additional lead time. We don’t impose Sunidra’s fixed portfolio on our valued customers. We want to sell sleep solutions rather a mere mattresses,” explains Anil kumar.PS, CEO of Eastern Mattresses Pvt Limited (EMPL).
Consumers are now willing to pay those extra bucks for customization & personalization of mattresses.
While brands are trying their best to deliver customized mattresses to their consumers, it calls for investing in space for warehousing purposes and logistics. Having the right infrastructure in place will make it convenient for mattress makers to promptly fulfil customized orders. “As far as customized mattresses are concerned, at present, we have them in all four regions of the country. We can deliver customized mattresses within 3 days. We have warehouses in all different states and we are planning to have an infrastructure, whereby, we can deliver within 24 to 48 hours,” Says Manish Parekh, Joint Managing Director at Nilkamal Limited.
Almost every brand aims to offer customized sleep solutions upon request within the shortest time frame. However, there are several challenges faced by mattress companies when it comes to delivering customized mattresses.
The unorganized local players are easily able to offer customized mattresses to the consumers. The aim of almost every brand is to offer customized sleep solutions upon request within the shortest time frame.
Challenges facing manufacturers
Though mattress manufacturers are working on various measures to fulfil the customized requirements of consumers, several challenges come their way while catering to these specific requirements. These challenges do have an impact on the overall supply chain operations of the companies. Customization & personalization of mattresses cannot fit well in the regular production process, thereby, adding intricacies to regular operations. It may also take a longer time to deliver the mattress. There have been several instances when some demanding customers have placed an order for customized mattresses and have cancelled the order after some days. The mattress that had entered the production line remains unutilized. Usually, these mattresses do not get sold and they pile up in the company’s warehouses.
Fulfilling custom orders on time requires effective inventory management. Many times, when companies do not have the required materials and components to make a customized mattress, they take more time to fulfil the order, which may irk the customer, who would in turn leave negative reviews about the company on various online marketplaces or social media pages.
Another major challenge in fulfilling customized orders to cost management. There are additional costs associated with customization & personalization of mattresses with tailored production, specialized materials, and personalized components. Manufacturers need to balance the cost of customization with the pricing expectations of customers to remain competitive. If the price advantage is not maintained, then brands may lose out on customers to their peers in the unorganized sector that is doing fairly well in fulfilling customized orders of mattresses and sleep products. “Of late, the unorganized sector has also picked up, they are also growing and they have also improved their products in terms of finish. That is one of the challenges, the organized industry has to face. Because in every region, and every state, there will be small players, affecting the local market. And they will be giving big price benefits to the local market over there to the consumers. So, that is going to be one of the challenges,” explains Manish Parekh of Nilkamal.
Brands are increasingly moving towards offering customized sleep solutions to their consumers to stay ahead of their peers both in the organized and unorganized segment.
Meanwhile, there are other challenges in areas of quality control, wherein, manufacturers must ensure that each customized mattress meets the standards set for other standard products. Additionally, mattress makers have to establish clear channels for communication with customers to understand their sleep requirements better before manufacturing a customized mattress.