These days more and more people have started purchasing their bed frames and mattresses online, and for good reason. While the old saying “you should try it before you buy it” is still quite popular, so is the growing trend of going on the web to get a new mattress. There are so many great online deals when it comes to beds that they are becoming very hard to ignore. There are still plenty of mattress stores around, but they are beginning to lose some business to certain websites.
In 2017 alone, online mattress sales are expected to take a whopping 4.6 percent of sales in a $16 billion-a-year industry. Some of the more recognizable online mattress and bed names include Casper, Tuft & Needle, Saatva, Leesa, Purple, and Helix Sleep. Many competitors have started launching special sales and deals for those who are looking to buy a new mattress, but will it be enough? While 4.6 percent of the total industry might not sound like a whole lot, that number is expected to only increase with time.
Select Comfort, which is one of the biggest names in straight-to-consumer bed sales, recently launched the It Bed. This company claims to offer the first bed-in-a-box with built-in biometric sensors that track and assess the sleep habits of the user. The It Bed also offers user-controllable contouring of left and right sides through an onboard electric pump that expands the bed’s foam-filled air chambers. Both the sleep tracking and fitness controls can be run through a smartphone app.
When it comes to the origin of this mattress technology, you need look no farther than NASA. THE government-funded space exploration agency funded the development of compressible memory foam back in the mid 1960s as a fast-recovering seat cushion material for astronauts enduring G-force liftoffs. Memory foam, also referred to as “temper foam,” is well-known for its overall reaction to body heat. When these mattresses were first released onto the market, the reaction from customers was very much divided. While some people loved the feeling of “sinking in” to their mattress, others despised it.
Today, memory foam is made in porous Gen 3 forms that are able to breathe a lot better, and some of them are even infused with gel beds for reducing body heat accumulation. One of the biggest reasons that so many people are taking advantage of direct-to-customer bed businesses is because of the huge savings. Modern memory foam beds can easily be compressed for easy transportation, which is why this is such a growing trend in the industry.
A lot of bed-in-a-box sellers offer their beds with a 75 or 100 night trial period so that the customer will be able to get a better sense as to whether or not they like it. There are quite a few people who still go down to brick-and-mortar businesses to buy their mattresses, but there is no denying that the internet is playing an increasingly important role in this industry.