There’s a new breed of startup claiming to disrupt the mattress industry.
Are there problems with the mattress industry? Consumer Reports thinks so[video]. For instance, they say a 50% reduction should be a given
The new companies say that innovative engineering and reduced marketing costs mean they can deliver a mattress in a box to your door that is better than those available at a shop for several times the price. Importantly, they only sell 1-2 mattresses instead of a large range, as they have designed the “perfect” mattress.
There’s a lot of info about the US companies[video] such as Purple and Casper, but not so much info when it comes to the new Aussie ones: Ecosa and Koala.
Has anyone bought these mattresses or at least compared them whilst shopping?
How interesting! It’s always fascinating when a “disruptor” comes in to challenge an industry! I’ve not been on the hunt for a mattress for a while, so I haven’t looked at Ecosa or Koala.
I’m not sure if any of the other forum members have looked into mattresses recently? @dpeter@mark.kasprzyk@yuki.garrett?
Definitely never pay anywhere near the asking price as markups are huge! How else could they offer 40-60% off every second weekend???
I was shopping around for a mattress a couple of years ago and found it very hard to compare anything. Exactly what they want to stop you doing. I did notice that quite a few of the model names and descriptions changed from store to store. Yet the mattresses seemed to be very very similar.
Eventually found an independent discounter, tried a heap of beds there and paid about 30% of the retail price for what was, as far as I could tell, the exact same mattress.
Recently listened to a slightly different take on it from Freakonomics Radio: http://freakonomics.com/podcast/mattress-store-bubble/
Also explains a few phenomenon about why such similar shops (Mattress shops in this example) tend to cluster around each other in a city.
I purchased a Tommy Swiss QS mattress 4 years ago for $359 delivered. Yes it came in a box and you unpack it and give it 24 hours to return to its proper size. It is very comfortable and less than a quarter of the price of similar ones I looked at locally.
I am a mattress Retailer, selling all of the major brands, inclusive of Sealy, Sleepmaker, Therapedic, selecto-pedic, etc. I also sell a couple of imported products like Koala etc.
I am more than happy to discuss the ins and outs of mattresses both from a retailer perspective, a wholesaler, and also from the specifications, which is the most important aspect. As a retailer, I had a customer come in and tell me how sorry she was about purchasing the Koala brand and spent $2K with me on a great mattress.
You do not need to spend $4k on a mattress. That is the top of the line, anything over and you are just trying to keep up with the Jonses, or you are just paying too MUCH.
Mattress And Pillow Science’s award-winning mattresses are outstanding quality for the price and only available at their small specialised stores. Best one I have ever slept on.
I had a terrible old, old mattress and back problems so absolutely had to replace it. I got a base & mattress for $800 at a Harvey Norman sale. It’s perfect for my back and it didn’t cost a fortune.
I can’t comment on any of the brands you mentioned but we have an Ergoflex memory foam mattress that came in a box and automagically expanded to a full queen size mattress when we opened it (we had to leave it overnight to fully expand). I love it. It’s the most comfortable mattress I’ve ever slept on and about a quarter of the price of the memory foam mattresses you can buy in a retail store.
I just bought new mattresses for older teens as they are out growing the current mattress (King Singles sizes). Good thing they have opinions and decided on what suited them which made things easy as they tire of that sort of shopping. Found a place where there were 5 mattress retailers. Good thing having catalogues and short walks to the next shop. I ended up getting a great deal on two mattresses. The brands you mentioned were not available in the retailers we visited but there was an unbelievable price range. Being lucky to be able to sleep anywhere I have not had to pay for “superior” bedding but there is a minimum cost you need to exceed as you have to sleep on your decisions every night. The mattress maker was Art & Science for both and most definitely made an impression on the hard working tradie - Art & Science Gold + extra firm, and Art & Science silver balanced comfort for sweet sixteen. These came in at just over $800 with us picking up from the shop saving $60 delivery fee. They also provided a mattress recycler that can take the old ones away (good service there). Better still, if my third teen decides on wanting to upgrade the mattress I can go back with the receipt and get the same discount rates. Thanks to Sleeping Giant.
I had an expensive Sealy years ago and it was the worst mattress I’ve ever had. It didn’t yield to my body at all and I woke up with a back ache every morning. Every time I travelled and stayed in a hotel my back was fine so after a few years we replaced it with a softer Sleepmaker which has been fantastic.
I would never buy a latex mattress because I am concerned that increasing exposure could lead to an allergy (science doesn’t back this up but then we don’t know what causes these allergies yet). Also, I tend to feel very warm sleeping on synthetics and never sleep as well. The Sleepmaker is okay but latex would be too hot and I wonder whether a new engineered mattress-in-a-box would be the same. Does anyone know what they are actually made of? I have wondered about smaller companies such as Makin’ Mattresses and whether their products are worth trying.
I purchased a rolled up single mattress (with some special top layer on it) from Aldi for my daughter. It is extremely comfortable, but it has one considerable problem: it doesn’t have any edge support, so if you are near the edge you simply roll off it. The lack of edge support is a very big issue and has stopped me from buying any more rolled up, vacuum packed mattresses, but I suspect that the manufacturers do away with the edge support in order that the mattress may be rolled up and vacuum packed. If I am incorrect, I would be happy to be informed otherwise…
We’ve also done our first mattress review in nearly 3 decades - taking a look at Koala and 4 other similar products vs a premium Sealy Posturepedic. Paywalled for members only (it took a lot of resource to produce this test!)
I did extensive research on mattresses approximstely a year ago and based on independent review indications determined that there are really only two mattress brands to look at; you’d have rocks in your head to consider any others: Tommy Swiss for mattresses <$500, OzMattress for >$500.
I’m often looking at and comparing mattresses. I have become a very hot sleeper, and 95% of mattresses don’t work for me. I also have back and shoulder issues, although thankfully these have lessened in the past few years.
At the moment I have a water bed, which is great for cooler sleeping, but inconvenient while renting and having to move every 6-12 months.
So I look at mattresses in case something turns up that would work for me. Koala claims that their foam on foam mattress is cool to sleep on. A quick look at reviews suggests that it’s not (as one would expect from foam). Sadly, nearly every bed available these days has foam in the top layer, as do most mattress toppers. They are comfortable (for me) but hot.
We did not review those this time, as they focused on the bed-in-a box models that have grown so popular in recent years. Thanks for the feedback on these brands, I’ll pass it on to the testing team.
