For an industry that purportedly relies on a tactile experience to make a sale, it’s almost surprising that anyone would buy a mattress online. But sure enough, 18% of U.S. adults plan to get their next mattress online.
According to CivicScience data, the pandemic did not increase consumer likelihood to buy online. As you can see, intent to purchase from a brick-and-mortar store went down four percentage points but intent to purchase online only increased one percentage point since January.
The ‘other’ category, received more gains than ‘online.’
Younger people are more comfortable with an online mattress purchase while those 55 and older are more firm on going into a store. Our data has shown for weeks now that older rather than younger Americans are more likely to stay away from public activities and believe the effects of the pandemic will last for some time. It’s likely in-store mattress shoppers will be few and far between for a while longer.
Brands
The current mattress market is saturated with specialty companies boasting proprietary technology or layered materials to keep sleepers cool, comfortable, and off key pressure points.
For example, long-time brand Tempur-Pedic is by far the most popular among the brands we studied. Twenty-four percent of those who had heard of the brand are either current or past users. Purple brand showed the greatest potential for growth with 16% of respondents intending to test its comfiness. And Casper brand, although behind both Purple and Tempur-Pedic, showed a decent amount of intent as well (11%).
CivicScience analysis concludes Tempur-Pedic is the everyman’s specialty mattress. It appeals to a wide age group and users report less trouble sleeping and less trips to the doctor in the last year. Tempur-Pedic isn’t just popular among people with back problems or health conditions, rather it’s likely users are also just looking for something comfortable. On the other hand, users of Purple mattresses skew young and show a greater percentage (82%) of people with trouble sleeping and people who report more frequent trips to the doctor in the last year.
At first glance, one might assume that Purple mattresses aren’t getting the job done, or why else would their users report more bad sleep and more doctor visits? Yet, those who intend to invest in a Purple mattress have a higher percentage of people experiencing trouble sleeping every night than Tempur-Pedic intenders do. Purple mattresses seems to be the possible answer for a niche group of sleepless consumers.
As mentioned above, Purple is significantly more popular among those in the 18 to 24 age group. But the brand shows greater intent from those who are middle-aged. The opposite is true for Tempur-Pedic: it’s most popular among those who have recently reached middle-age (45-54) but greater intent comes from those in the 18 to 24 bracket.
Returning to the option of online versus in-store shopping, Purple mattress intenders are certainly more likely to go the online route. If their online shopping experience can appeal to their older intenders, they are likely to see a lot of success during a time when people are less likely to visit a store.
