What better way than talking numbers to get your attention, right? Well, Cut to the chase the Indian Mattress Market revenue in the Mattresses segment amounts to US$251m in 2022. The market is expected to grow annually by 8.05 percent (CAGR 2022-2026) according to Statista. Under this, the luxury mattress segment has seen a serious increase in popularity and is growing at the fastest rate compared to other segments.

It is thus very natural to play host to some questions. What particular factors have been the driving force for this change? What are the pertaining trends in the current market? Who are the key players? What’s the customer profile? What lies ahead of us in this segment? The challenges and underlying opportunities?

Read on to not just quench your curiosity but to get some highly useful insights into the luxury market segment. Opportunities lie abound in the post-pandemic economy and it’s all about equipping yourself with the right information to make the best of it.

Self-explanatory

To an inexperienced eye, a luxury mattress might not be something easy to distinguish. But given a chance to sleep on it for a night, and see them become a firm advocate of it overnight. And who can blame them, after all, luxury mattresses are made to maximise comfort and quality of sleep to the next level.

Luxury mattresses are super sturdy. They also strike a balance between cushioning and support, a requisite for a good night’s sleep. Special built-in comfort features like individually wrapped pocket coils, which conform to the body while reducing motion transfer, and high-density memory foam that eases pressure on hips and shoulders are abundant. And most importantly, the diversification just keeps on increasing to address even the most peculiar of customer needs. Thus, the product itself poses a major explanation for its popularity.

Cause & Effect

Consumer perspective: Customers have become more mindful than ever, consciously analysing their own purchasing choices, habits and underlying motive. They are looking at products from various dimensions, be it utility, aesthetics, durability, or whether it adds to their quality of life in the long run.

In the context of mattresses, consciousness regarding health has been a leading factor in the expansion of the luxurious segment. The marketing efforts of the manufacturers, as well as retailers, are also to be credited here. Efforts to sell sleep before selling sleep products have been at an all-time high. The resulting awareness among customers has pushed them to make better choices.

Real estate, Tourism & Hospitals: Real estate with its jacked-up investment in construction, and revamping projects has given rise to increased demand for luxury mattresses. Growing housing demands in the residential market have also been central to this trend. Without much need for explanation, increased footfall for hospitals and health retreats has too helped cut a larger market share for luxurious mattresses.

Lockdowns and covid restrictions have made people value the outdoors and leisure more than ever before. People are extensively travelling, lending a big push to the tourism and hospitality sector. Hotels are thus in full swing and have been investing heavily in top quality mattresses.

Macro economics: Awareness and willingness alone are not enough to make the real purchase. The true purchasing power comes to customers from income level, which has steadily increased in the past few years. It has let consumers upgrade to better-quality mattresses. Larger economic factors have also led to the induction of some of the world’s biggest mattress makers into the Indian market. The entire Asia-pacific region has become a hotbed for investment (pun intended). This has played out as a co-dependent relationship: customers are intrigued to buy luxury mattresses from new world-famous mattress brands, and manufacturers are eager to capitalise on the same by giving better options and offers.

About 70 percent of the global population in developing and developed countries prefer to sleep on spring mattresses

Offline, Online: The mattress industry has quite swiftly jumped onto the e-commerce wave. Even though luxury mattress consumers prefer the full experience before making big investments and thus retail stores are their preferred choice, through the internet they can visit the official website, read up on their options, and product features, understand their own sleeping needs etc, thus boosting the final sales. Hence customer satisfaction has surely been enhanced.

Runners & the race

The Indian market is fragmented with a large number of branded and non-branded players present in the market selling a variety of mattresses with local distribution channels. Even though the market is dominated by the unorganized sector, the organized sector is now growing swiftly with the rising demand for good quality mattresses among Indian consumers.

The Indian mattress market is domestically dominated by players, such as Kurlon, Springfit, and Springwel, among others. Dream Mattress, Sleepwell, Peps, and Duroflex are some other major and established players. There are also some new entrants in the market in the form of innovative start-ups such as Wakefit, Housefull, Wink & Nod etc. This competitive landscape makes for a very dynamic industry spurting with opportunities.

What’s trending?

Shift to the organized sector: For a long while the unorganised sector, overflowing with mattresses of coir, cotton, and foam, has played a significant role in the Indian mattress industry.

However, with the introduction of big international brands in the market, the modern Indian is willingly switching from the local “gadiwala” shops to thoroughly researched and developed, factory-made mattresses.

People switching to branded mattresses for their high quality, abundant options, and customised experiences is a trend quite evident. Thus it is an undeniable fact that the organised sector is swiftly but surely overtaking the current market distribution.

In terms of sales of the luxury segment, the residential sector is the undisputed patrons, majority of which consists of the upper middle class and higher class Indians.

Customers love customization: A very fascinating fact about Indian mattress consumers’ behaviour is that almost 30 percent prefer custom-made mattresses as compared to a meagre 5 percent of people abroad. Be it the tradition of getting one’s bed made by carpenters (unique dimensions) or age-old beliefs in Vastu, the trend persists, and quite strongly.

It has sipped into the luxury segment as well and people pouring huge amounts into the purchase expect this level of service. The major players in the market have already started to level up their games. Today, luxury mattresses come in all shapes, sizes, and designs to suit windows, yachts, bolsters, and for added products like L-cushions, chair cushions, T-cushions etc.

The much-needed bounce of Luxury Spring Mattresses: About 70 percent of the global population in developing and developed countries prefer to sleep on spring mattresses. In India, its popularity is yet to reach the prime but this global trend itself has helped give the manufacturing and acceptance of spring mattresses the much-needed thrust in the Indian market. In fact, amongst the upper-middle-class gentry, luxurious spring mattresses are becoming quite a hype.

Selling sleep: Manufacturers as well as retailers are giving special attention to their marketing. They are not only concentrating their efforts on conveying the functional features of the mattresses and brand-building but dedicatedly working towards spreading awareness about the positive impacts of a good night’s sleep.

The mantra of Selling sleep, even though in its early stages is already doing miracles for the industry. Equipped with knowledge about sleep’s health implications and resulting importance in well-being, people are now more than happy to spend more to get the right mattress. The luxury segment is thus becoming richly diversified and seeing a surge in demand.

The face of clientele

The mattress market is divided into three Tiers: The tier one segment is considered as a premium mattress buyer. The Tier Two segment is the top contributor to the overall mattress market share as the largest buyer of mid and economy-pricing segments. Tier 3 consists of Luxury mattresses which have the lowest penetration but are seen as the fastest-growing market in the mattress industry.

In terms of sales of the luxury segment, the residential sector is the undisputed patron, the majority of which consists of the upper middle class and higher-class Indians. Post-pandemic changes have resulted in a boost in the institutional sector as well. This includes hospitals, nursing rooms, hotels, luxurious villas & resorts, high-end government rest houses etc.

What lies ahead?!

According to a market report by Statista, the Indian mattress market is expected to grow annually by 8.05 percent (CAGR 2022-2026). Various positive indicators also point towards heightened demand for customized and luxury mattresses.

Healthy Competition: The growth will be accompanied by appropriate investment from manufacturers and a wave of new features along with a wider range of luxury mattresses can be very much expected to surge the market. Since the growth in the mattress market is largely led by increased demand from residential units and hotels across the country, one can very much expect to see manufacturers catering to their specific demands and embracing customization with full force amidst high competition.

Go green: Rising demand for natural material mattresses with hypo-allergenic properties is a very evident trend. Service providers like luxurious hotel chains, health resorts, villas, etc are paying attention to the smallest of details when it comes to their customer’s preferences. The harmful effects of synthetic mattresses on being regularly used are also coming to light.

When looking at the global scenario as well, people are making more eco-friendly and sustainable choices for the larger good. Thus natural material-based mattresses are in high demand owing also to the quality of sleep and comfort they offer. These are projected to be major driving factors of the luxury mattress market during the forecast period.

The e-wave: Rapid increase in the trend of selling luxury mattresses through online distribution channels, especially on company-owned websites as well as global and local e-commerce portals is expected to create significant opportunities during the forecast period, for manufacturers and retailers alike. Companies are also pumping up their lucrative offers through attractive discounts, convenient payment schemes, unbelievably easy return policies etc to drive the sale of luxury mattresses on e-commerce websites.

Challenges & the underlying opportunities

When thinking long-term, it is equally important to be realistic and look at possible challenges from a solution-based approach. Firstly, lack of awareness poses a constant threat to any industry. In the case of mattresses, however, eradicating it doesn’t simply serve the purpose of getting rid of the problem but acts as an immense opportunity too.

Customers who are well aware of all the benefits of a good night’s sleep brings, are more willing to make better choices and since better also means the one on the luxurious end, it simply translates to better sales and profit. For both manufacturers and retailers, it’s no less than an investment opportunity.

Non-standardization (customization) of mattresses has been a problem that has plagued the industry for quite some time now. It is more difficult in the Indian subcontinent. One can never tell when it shall be addressed completely but the constant efforts in place give some assurance. Meanwhile, manufacturers have used the underlying opportunity to undertake customization as a serious service.

The stiff competition in the Indian market has posed many challenges. However, in terms of innovation, it has proved to be highly beneficial and promises further diversification and a wide range of luxurious mattresses.

Bottom Line

Despite occupying a small share, the rate at which luxurious mattresses are gaining prominence is extraordinary. With dedicated efforts from manufacturers and retailers, it holds the potential to take the Indian Mattress Market to the next level.