A mattress is one of those fairly big purchases that — hopefully — you’ll only need to make a handful of times in your adult life. They (usually) don’t cost as much as cars, but maybe you’ll hope they last about as long. And when it comes to making such a big investment of both money and time, it seems as though most Americans will shy away from purchasing online.
In an August survey of more than 2,000 U.S. adults, CivicScience found that nearly half the country has never heard of leading online mattress retailers like Casper, Leesa, and Tuft & Needle.
On the bright side, that’s a lot of room for growth. But unfortunately for these brands, most of those who have heard of them are not interested.
However, there may be some light on the horizon: 10% of those who’ve heard of these retailers said they were planning to order a mattress online in the future.
Users and Intenders Skew Young, Higher-Income
Men and women were equally likely to have tried these services already, and men were just a hair more likely to be interested. Among those who were aware of these retailers, younger people were far more likely to have tried them. Interest, though, was fairly consistent among all respondents younger than 55.
Income played a large role as well. Both awareness and adoption rates increased steadily alongside one’s household income. Those in households earning less than $50,000 per year were almost entirely uninvested and uninterested.
Of course, those in long-term romantic relationships often share a bed. That probably brings in an element of compromise when choosing a mattress. When looking at marital status, use rates are fairly level across the board among those who are aware of online mattress retailers. Single people, though, were far more likely to intend to use them.
Online Shoppers Will Spring For Mattress Websites
Buying a mattress online signifies a certain level of trust in online shopping in general. Amazon Prime shoppers were way more likely than non-members to use or intend to use Casper, Leesa, or Tuft & Needle.
A full 15% of Prime shoppers either used or intended to use these sites, compared with just 4% of non-members. Prime members were also more aware of online options for mattresses.
Taking this train of thought further, tablet owners who shop online were more likely than others to use or intend to use online mattress services.
And finally, to circle back to the car purchase comparison, those who’ve used or want to use online car dealerships like TrueCar and Carvana were far more likely to want to buy a mattress online as well.
It seems that overall, online mattress retailers appeal to younger and higher-income adults. Thus far, single folks haven’t represented a huge share of the business, but there’s vast interest among that demographic — more than twice that of married couples. Perhaps the most important item to note here, though, is that familiarity with online shopping — especially for other big-ticket items, such as cars — is a huge indicator.
