4 ms·
I've been wondering what the margins are on mattresses. You see stores selling them all over the place. There's usually only one or two employees in there, and
by chiph 10y ago
I've been wondering what the margins are on mattresses. You see stores selling them all over the place. There's usually only one or two employees in there, and they're devoid of shoppers most of the week (weekends are big days for them). So they have to pay rent + utilities and presumably commission, but are selling these items one-at-a-time to only occasional customers. The mark-ups have to be insane to support that.
- dilemma 10y agoI know nothing about the mattress business, but many shops, especially those on fancy addresses, lose money and instead function as branding instruments. Its possible that the stores you've observed work as showrooms and have attached warehouses, servicing a wholesale operation where the money is actually made.
- beckler 10y agoJust depends. I believe the average is somewhere between 40-60% for most name-brand mattresses. However, off-brand mattresses probably have higher margins, due to them being cheaper in general.
- dilemma 10y agoUnbranded products are commodities and therefore should have lower margins.
- haukilup 10y agoSeems the parent used "off-brand mattresses" and you used "unbranded products", which is quite a bit different
- askldfhjkasfhd 10y agoCan you elaborate for me? I thought those two were synonyms.
- ascagnel_ 10y agoUnbranded generally means generic, off-brand usually signifies it's branded, but not with a recognizable brand. Generic products are generally cheaper, but off-brand products can try to masquerade as higher-market items (especially when you're dealing with a purchase as infrequent as a mattress) and can claim higher margins.
- askldfhjkasfhd 10y agoWhat would you call something made in the 3rd shift? Where they use the same materials and factory they use for making branded gear, but don't put the brand on it?
- chiph 10y agoIt's not necessarily when/how they're made (although that's part of it), but how they're marketed. Take soft drinks for example. Brand-name: Dr. Pepper Off-brand: Dr. Perky Unbranded/Generic: "Soda" in a white can
- ascagnel_ 10y agoGeneric or unbranded, depending on how the product is labeled. The thing with those two labels is that, since you don't have someone actively trying to maintain those brands, you as a customer don't know if they're actually using the same materials and factory (or at least that's the theory behind why a brand would be worthwhile at all).
- RankingMember 10y agoMarketplace did a story on exactly this phenomenon: http://www.marketplace.org/2016/05/02/world/why-are-there-so-many-mattress-stores http://www.marketplace.org/2016/05/02/world/why-are-there-so... To sum it up: "Mattress stores have low overhead, low labor costs and higher-than-usual profit margins, Sam Woods said, Senior Vice President of Sales and Operations for Mattress Firm. “If you sold three or four beds a day, and your average ticket is $1,000, that’s a $4,000 day, times 365. All of a sudden you’ve got more than a million-dollar business there,” he said."
- gozur88 10y agoFurniture items of all types have a large markup. It's because volume is so low and as a shop owner you have a lot of money tied up in inventory.
- drzaiusapelord 10y agoThis has been explored in the press recently and apparently the margins are very high. The sales experience is also poor as you'll see an ad for a $599 bed and when you visit the store you'll get an aggressive upsell. Worse, if you fight the upsell, the $599 bed is magically out of stock or will require 4-6 weeks delivery while the other more expensive items can be delivered tomorrow. My last two beds have been from either Costco or Sam's Club. No high pressure sales, less bullshit, and better pricing. The one time my wife and I went to a mattress store, we paid probably 30% more than the warehouse club prices and the bed's springs went bad years earlier than expected. I highly recommend avoiding mattress stores.
- cylinder 10y agoCheck out Saatva.
- seanp2k2 10y agoThere are tons of mattress companies trying to "disrupt" the market right now. Leesa, Casper, Tuft and Needle, etc. I personally went with FloBeds (older company, all-latex mattresses, hippy dippy, in California) and couldn't be happier. http://www.themattressunderground.com http://www.themattressunderground.com has lots of good info if you're in the market. Casper and the rest aren't bad deals, but there is better / different stuff out there without the terrible mattress store business model.
- drzaiusapelord 10y agoI just find it easier to lay down on the bed at the warehouse club to see if I like it than taking a chance online. I lean towards a firm mattress but not too firm. Its sometimes tough finding the one I want and doing mattress returns via the internet sounds like a nightmare.
- ska 10y agoMany of these companies will offer you no questions asked money back guarantee after 90 or even 120 days of trying it in your home. That's got to be better than 5 minutes at the warehouse club trying to imagine what it's like to sleep on.
- NikolaNovak 10y agoAccording to "The Straight Dope" markups are "Stupenduous", at each level of the chain, and manufacturing competition is actually limited. "Consumer Reports puts gross profit margins on mattresses at 30 to 40 percent, both for wholesalers and for retailers, and up to 50 percent for makers of super-luxe products." http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/3265/why-are-there-so-many-mattress-stores http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/3265/why-are-there-...
- electroly 10y agoThere's a mattress store in Milwaukee that has no employees at all. I saw one of their locations in a mall. Just a bunch of beds, a phone number painted on the wall if you have questions, and a computer in the corner for ordering. I thought it was brilliant. Who needs employees?
- bshimmin 10y agoThat is a good idea! I quite fancy a few new mattresses and a computer.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- bluedino 10y agoCheck out Tuft & Needle, there was an article on HN a few years back https://www.tuftandneedle.com/about/truth/ https://www.tuftandneedle.com/about/truth/
- rayiner 10y agoWe have a family connection to get dealer pricing on mattresses. A $3,000 brand-name mattress set is under $1,000 delivered.
- xenihn 10y agoAre these actually any better than beds from a place like Leesa or Casper?
- rayiner 10y agoI don't have any experience with those brands. We have a foam/innerspring hybrid mattress that is a good mix of soft surface with overall very firm support. It's also like 200 pounds so it doesn't shift when your partner moves.