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Casper Sleep S-1

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Re: Casper Sleep S-1

#141

Post by debian3 »

et2o wrote: post #84
Spivak wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to get too meta but undermining reviews is also a tactic used by companies to manipulate sales because if you don’t trust any reviews but still have to make a decision you’re going to go with a “safe” “established” brand which usually means whoever has the most mindshare.

Can you recommend an unbiased site then

https://www.themattressunderground.com/mattress-forum.html

That’s how i found a mattress that is still like new after 6 years of usage (and I’m extremely satisfied). And no, none of the “big” brand.

Here a rule of thumbs, avoiding a brand that start by “s” is already a good start. Then there is a few more to filter out.

Re: Casper Sleep S-1

#142

Post by wbl »

awalton wrote: post #91
tempsy wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$1100+tax is more than double what you'd pay at Ikea, Amazon, Costco, etc. I thought the promise of all these direct-to-consumer products was to pass savings onto the consumer because they are vertically integrated and cut out scammy middle men. Seems like all that's happened is they just keep fat margins for themselves.

> Seems like all that's happened is they just keep fat margins for themselves. Judging by their S-1, not so much... They're offering up $100M in shares on $200M of assets and $300M in debt. They spend about as much on marketing as they make from selling the goods, leaving shareholders to pay for all of the administration expenses. If it were a tech company it'd be easy to say this is another debt-fueled startup looki…

The gross margin of manufactured consumer goods with lots of competition isn't usually 50٪. But you're right marketing is needed to maintain it. I'm stunned by the high general and administrative costs.

Re: Casper Sleep S-1

#143

Post by austhrow743 »

tempsy wrote: post #47
Ohn0 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

added cost of marketing though?

not sure why that matters even if it's true their marketing costs are high. if it ends up costing significantly more then what value are you providing me as a customer for selling something that is 2x more than what I can get anywhere?

The marketing provides value by convincing you that you found a quality product in an opaque industry.

Re: Casper Sleep S-1

#144

Post by coldcode »

seesaw wrote: post #90
dirtyid wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Brand appeal I suppose. I remember 1/2 the Casper price tag goes to marketing - I just bought a generic Amazon Zinus for 1/2 the price that research suggested came from the same foam factory. Seems like Zinus has gone down in cost in the last few years as one would expect with economy of scale while Casper has gone up one, $250 now from Amazon shipped, 1/4 of Casper. Simultaneously feels like Casper has cut back on m…

I got two Zinus mattresses from Amazon for about $400 total. It has been only two months, but I have been happy so far.

I have a Zinus I paid like $250 at most on it and it's the best mattress I've ever slept on. But, I ordered one for the guest room and it did not fully expand, so I talked with Amazon and they sent me another one. I took the first one apart, it's pretty simple set of I vaguely remember 4 layers of different foam types. Making these mattresses is pretty simple for all the brands, so the profit margin on an expensive name brand is very high. All you need is a good vacuum and decent packaging for the foam types. I have no idea why anyone would pay $1000-$3000 for a mattress.

Re: Casper Sleep S-1

#145

Post by saaaaaam »

awalton wrote: post #86
Spivak wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to get too meta but undermining reviews is also a tactic used by companies to manipulate sales because if you don’t trust any reviews but still have to make a decision you’re going to go with a “safe” “established” brand which usually means whoever has the most mindshare.

I see how that argument would work for Sealy, Simmons and Serta. I don't see how this would work for Casper or any of the other no-name mattress-in-a-box company.

I’ve never even heard of those first three. I don’t even know if they are mattress companies. I’ve heard of Casper.

Re: Casper Sleep S-1

#146

Post by fnord77 »

commoner wrote: post #87
et2o wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you recommend an unbiased site then

Consumer Reports is non-profit and purchases all of the products it tests. Its revenue comes from subscriptions and grants/donations, not advertising or commissions. https://www.consumerreports.org Some U.S. public libraries offer access to Consumer Reports for free with a library card.

> commissions

sadly, consumer reports now gets money from purchases through amazon affiliate links

Re: Casper Sleep S-1

#147

Post by xchaotic »

astura wrote: post #38
tempsy wrote: post #2

I haven't been in the market for a mattress for awhile now but went on Casper's website and was shocked to see the price for a Queen is now $1095. I didn't remember it being that high, and checked Wayback and sure enough it was $850 in 2015, and $950 in 2017. Given how many copycats are out there, many selling for much less, can someone help me understand how Casper gets away with selling a $1095 mattress + tax to a…

Advertising/marketing. People often perceive a mattress as "very important," as sleep is important, and are willing to spend a bit extra if they think the quality will be there and they'll sleep better. In reality I believe most of these "mattress in a box" companies are selling the same 2-3 mattress manufactured in the same factory. Personally, I buy mattress in the $300-$500 range. When I was in college I just slep…

It is important. Given how much time you spend sleeping and people complain about spending $1000. But they don’t complain about a $30000 car they spend less than half the time in.

Re: Casper Sleep S-1

#148

Post by [deleted] »

alexandrerond wrote: post #139
skellera wrote: post #65

Just wanted to say that working with Casper customer service was one of the worst experiences I’ve ever had. I bought their top of the line hybrid mattress then a few weeks later they had a sale which could be used on any of their products if you bought a mattress. We really wanted the lamps so we contacted customer service to see if it was possible to get the discount since we just bought the mattress. The girl was…

Do you keep track of all the things you buy in case price goes down so that you can complain to customer support when they do? In my case, I contacted support to see if I could get a discount before making the purchase and they told me to wait two weeks for an upcoming promotion. Also quickly exchanged a defect mattress. Not saying they're the best, but complaining because they don't have retroactive sales....

[deleted]

Re: Casper Sleep S-1

#149

Post by dubcanada »

rockinghigh wrote: post #140
skellera wrote: post #65

Just wanted to say that working with Casper customer service was one of the worst experiences I’ve ever had. I bought their top of the line hybrid mattress then a few weeks later they had a sale which could be used on any of their products if you bought a mattress. We really wanted the lamps so we contacted customer service to see if it was possible to get the discount since we just bought the mattress. The girl was…

I don’t see how this is a horrible service experience. There is no expectation of a company to honor future discounts. Would you return a car if its price later dropped or if they suddenly had a better deal?

That has nothing to do with it. The problem with the customer service is not them not honouring future discounts.

It was them not being good customer service, the general rule in customer service is basically try and do what ever the customer wants. In this case they wanted a coupon (probably for 10-20% off extremely expensive lamps) after buying a $2000 mattress. This doesn't matter and should have been given immediately.

The positive review of a single person is more important then losing 10-20% on a sale after a user already purchased another product.

Due to them not giving them a 10-20% coupon they lost a $2000 mattress sale and got a bad review on a site.

Re: Casper Sleep S-1

#150

Post by xwowsersx »

onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #75
commoner wrote: post #74

Casper sued a mattress review site, Sleepopolis, for writing negative reviews of their products. Casper then settled the lawsuit by taking over Sleepopolis. The site now posts only positive reviews of Casper's mattresses. https://www.fastcompany.com/3065928/sleepopolis-casper-blogg... I would take any reviews of Casper's products with a grain of salt.

Mattress reviews are notoriously fake. I would take any mattress review with a grain of salt.

Does the same apply to reviews on YouTube? There are some channels dedicated to mattress reviews (as funny as that seems).
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