We Need a Warby Parker for Mattresses • Hacker News Board

Re: We Need a Warby Parker for Mattresses

#61

Post by jsiegz » Fri, Sep 14, 2012, 6:29 PM UTC

latchkey wrote: post #21

I bought a keetsa mattress years ago and love it. The op bought one too. It seems like the best thing to do here would be to just continue to support keetsa as they really are doing a good job on pretty much all angles. Keetsa is the Warby Parker here.

yep, mine is keetsa as well. keetsa = warby parker without the hype or e-commerce focus (but maybe there's opportunity there). the salesman actually suggested i should get a lower end mattress than the one i thought i was going to buy. great company.

Re: We Need a Warby Parker for Mattresses

#62

Post by s_baby » Fri, Sep 14, 2012, 6:31 PM UTC

bryanlarsen wrote: post #17

medell wrote: post #13

100% agree. But if you must buy a mattress go to SleepCountry, they price match anything.

How does price matching work? One of the major problems with mattress stores is that everybody sells different mattresses -- they're 99% identical, but tiny changes are made to justify a different name and prevent comparison shopping and price matching.

Match according to spring count and type. The profit margin at a place like Mattress Firm is ~50%. They are hungry for a sale and will bid for your purchase.

Re: We Need a Warby Parker for Mattresses

#63

Post by medell » Fri, Sep 14, 2012, 6:31 PM UTC

bryanlarsen wrote: post #17

medell wrote: post #13

100% agree. But if you must buy a mattress go to SleepCountry, they price match anything.

How does price matching work? One of the major problems with mattress stores is that everybody sells different mattresses -- they're 99% identical, but tiny changes are made to justify a different name and prevent comparison shopping and price matching.

Yes that is part of the whole scam which I learned a lot about during my last mattress purchase. SleepCountry has a catalog cross referencing the types of mattresses from other companies that are very similar if not exact matches to what they carry. I ended up price matching a Bay One Day Sale mattress that was $799 (normally $2000, of course that is inflated too) and they gave me a similar mattress in the showroom that was on sale for $1399. Very happy with it. I gave my friend my receipt a month later and he got the same deal. You know SleepCountry is not making much from this sale but I was really happy with their service so I'm a customer for life... or until they get disrupted!

Re: We Need a Warby Parker for Mattresses

#64

Post by streptomycin » Fri, Sep 14, 2012, 6:32 PM UTC

storborg wrote: post #4

streptomycin wrote: post #2

FWIW, Warby Parker was not the first web-based retailer to undercut traditional eyewear sales, nor are they the cheapest. They do seem to have the best PR, though.

They also have by far the best customer experience. Their website is fantastic and fulfillment is lightning-fast, neither of which can be said about the competitors that I've tried (framesdirect.com, zennioptical.com, glasses.com, 39dollarglasses). It's not just PR. Unfortunately, their range of styles is still very narrow, which is presumably dependent on their manufacturing capabilities.

I didn't mean to imply that it's just PR, but they do undoubtedly have the best PR out of all those companies.

Re: We Need a Warby Parker for Mattresses

#65

Post by jcampbell1 » Fri, Sep 14, 2012, 6:33 PM UTC

startupfounder wrote: post #10

We need a Warby Parker for Diamonds! 1. Oligopoly market structure CHECK 2. Insane gross margins CHECK 3. Opaque and misleading product naming CHECK 4. Expensive distribution through unpleasant channels CHECK CHECK CHECK

Bluenile.com does this, and is successful. Of course they only solve the unpleasant distribution, and misleading product naming issues. They saw the problem of slimy sales tactics and gouging in the diamond business and fixed it.

Re: We Need a Warby Parker for Mattresses

#66

Post by latchkey » Fri, Sep 14, 2012, 6:35 PM UTC

ChuckMcM wrote: post #30

Clearly there is a distribution challenge (high transportation / storage costs) but I like the idea of disrupting them.

Keetsa has done a great job of helping this issue. They are foam mattresses and they suck the air out of them and stuff them into a surprisingly small box. It actually takes about a month for them to fully reinflate once unpacked.

Re: We Need a Warby Parker for Mattresses

#67

Post by notJim » Fri, Sep 14, 2012, 6:35 PM UTC

rscale wrote: post #15

I believe that entrepreneurs could do well, generally, by looking for opportunities in industries that are dominated by private-equity players. If an industry is overweight PE, you can bet that the market analysis looks fantastically attractive (competition isn't too fierce, suppliers have little power, buyers have little power, not many substitutes, and little perceived threat from new entrants). If a clever entrepr…

Could someone explain for the… ahh… more financially naïve among us why private equity is the important signifier here? It seems like what rscale is talking about are markets which are opaque due to companies that have enough clout to force that inefficiency (e.g., by restricting information or making product comparisons impossible.) Why or how is that coordinated with private equity?

Re: We Need a Warby Parker for Mattresses

#68

Post by tomjen3 » Fri, Sep 14, 2012, 6:36 PM UTC

Maybe instead of focussing on selling mattresses you should focus on some sort of price comparison machine where you can enter what characteristica you want to (must have memory foam, must be this size, must be x, y and z) and then have the machine find close matches and display the variours prices? That way it won't matter if they fix the name, since you don't compare the mattresses on names, but on features.

Re: We Need a Warby Parker for Mattresses

#69

Post by raldi » Fri, Sep 14, 2012, 6:38 PM UTC

If you attempt this, I suggest you make a deal with a motel chain: When a customer checks into a room, they discover a little sign on the bed. The sign says, "Like this mattress? Get a brand-new copy delivered to your home for $X00 by visiting mattressr.com and entering bed code MEDIUMSOFT-23."

Re: We Need a Warby Parker for Mattresses

#70

Post by JPKab » Fri, Sep 14, 2012, 6:39 PM UTC

Spooky23 wrote: post #42

There are all sorts of outlets for reasonably priced, what you see is what you get mattresses: Sam's Club. Costco. Ikea. You can get a decent name brand mainstream mattress for ~$500. The problem with mattresses is that it's a product where you need a salesman. There's a bunch of different products that look similar, but have significant differences. You want to match the customer with what they want (or tell them wh…

"There are all sorts of outlets for reasonably priced, what you see is what you get mattresses: Sam's Club. Costco. Ikea. You can get a decent name brand mainstream mattress for ~$500."

I hear you, but who says that $500 is a reasonable price for a mattress? I'm sorry, but looking at the raw materials involved (don't even get me started on the frickin foam ones that don't even have springs: I'm looking at you Tempurpedic) it's clearly still a racket at the Sam's Club prices.

If it is the raw materials, and not a rip off, then why do solid foam rubber mattresses cost more than mattresses containing moving parts and metal springs?