How to Start a Mattress Business: A Guide to Success

Everyone needs to sleep. That’s why getting into the American mattress business can be so profitable for businesses like yours.

Last year, the global mattress industry was valued at $52.45 billion. That market is expected to grow exponentially, reaching a projected 91.23 by 2032, meaning you need to get some competitive strategies in place right now.

One of the things that has propelled this growth is the increase in online mattress sales, which you can also take advantage of. Additionally, shoppers around the world are beginning to demand eco-friendly products, requiring businesses to quickly course-correct and create new kinds of mattresses, such as those made with recycled plastics and bamboo.

Don’t sleep on changes in this industry. Understanding trends will ensure your mattress brand or franchise has the potential to succeed.

How To Start a Mattress Business: 7 Steps

Starting a mattress company requires you to complete multiple steps, the first of which is doing your market research to investigate what your company can do differently than your key competitors. Here are seven steps to go through before you decide on launching your products and opening your doors virtually or in a brick-and-mortar shop:

Research of the Market and Financial Planning

One of the first, if not the first, things you’ll want to do to get started with your mattress company is to invest your time into researching the marketing and planning your finances. Researching the market is important because it lets you see if there is enough demand for the products you want to offer. Additionally, you’ll learn about your competitors and be able to develop a sales plan that considers the pricing and marketing styles of those companies.

Financial planning, on your end, may include determining the cost of the products you want to offer in your niche, the potential return on investment if you strike the right chords with the audience you want to reach, and other factors that could positively or negatively affect the profitability of your company.

Business Plan

Developing a business plan lets you create a guide for how you want to run your business. A business plan goes over all aspects of running the business, from branding and your motto to market research and analysis. You can make this plan as thorough as you’d like. Doing deeper research gives you a better idea of the competition and your goals, but having a looser plan is also okay when you’re first getting started.

Company Registration

All companies should start with the basics. How you register your company will depend on factors such as how many employees you have and the legal rights you want to maintain as a business owner. Business structures vary, so research them carefully before registering your business with the state.

Permits and Your Local Regulations

Before you can open your business, you will need to look into local permits and regulations. Some businesses will need permits to sell products in certain areas or of different types. You may also need licensing or business permits to run your operations if they reach a certain size.

Physical and Online Store Setup

Once you establish the basics of your business, it’s important to consider taking it online as well. An online storefront can help you sell products to people inside and outside the local area, while a physical store might only work for locals. With online stores, you can carry additional sizes of mattresses that you don’t keep in stock or allow customers to order from manufacturers you don’t normally carry in-store.

Marketing Your Business

Keep in mind that you will need to market your business. Whether you open a shop focused on improved sleep and wellness or you are a mattress manufacturer hoping to open a franchise or outlet, you will need to market your business so consumers know it’s there. As a part of your business plan, go over marketing topics like choosing a catchy business name and designing content marketing strategies to sell mattresses in person and online.

Business Growth and Adjustments

Business growth is possible if you set your brand on the path to building up trust between your business and the consumers you want to impress. As you market to your target audience, you will want to keep key performance indicators (KPIs) at top of mind to help you track how well you’re doing and if you’re meeting goals for your continued success.

Some of the best key metrics to include are costs related to starting up and projected revenue, the value of your customers for as long as they buy from you, and others.

How Do Mattress Stores Make Money?

The good thing about running a mattress store is that selling mattresses can develop into a significant amount of revenue. But, you also don’t have to rely only on a single stream of income, such as in-store sales.

Mattress stores can make money selling mattresses, warranties on mattresses, sleep accessories such as pillows or blankets, and more. Additionally, you can sell both in person and online, letting you take advantage of a larger market.

As you prepare to open your doors, make sure you balance two important factors: pricing and quality. When you do your market research, you’ll discover if there is a niche to fill in your area. That niche might be lower-priced mattresses of good quality or high-end mattresses of the best quality. Whatever it is, make an effort to see that your pricing reflects the quality of the products while keeping a healthy profit margin and fitting within the budgets of your target audiences.

How To Choose and Work With Suppliers

Selecting quality mattress products and negotiating with suppliers is a process you’ll need to complete somewhat regularly as you build your business. It’s important to develop healthy relationships with suppliers and ensure that you maintain open lines of communication.

When it’s time to choose a supplier, ensure that you:

• Look over reviews from consumers who are talking about other businesses like yours. See what kind of feedback the manufacturer or supplier has before selecting to work with them.
• Know what materials you want to source. If you’re creating a new mattress and not just selling branded products already on the market, you will need to source materials from vendors offering good quality materials at fair prices.
• Speak with multiple vendors. Don’t just choose the first one with which you connect. Instead, speak to several to get different quotes and options.

5 Marketing Strategies for Your Mattress Business

Marketing your brand can be straightforward in the mattress business, but you’ll want to ensure you have the right approach to make the most of your marketing budget. You need to figure out how to create a bold brand identity and come up with effective advertising campaigns to draw in leads you can convert.

Here are five marketing strategies that will help you get started.

1. Collaborate with top influencers.

To get started and draw more people to your brand’s website or store, you should consider working together with top influencers. They have a captive audience. Consider working with and connecting to influencers most involved in industries like yours, such as people who have built followings by talking about insomnia or sleep health.

2. Offer in-store consultations.

You should be prepared to help with commonly asked questions and offer your knowledge and support during mattress consultations. Providing expert advice about the best mattresses for certain problems people can solve with better sleeping arrangements, such as hip pain, may help you sell more and have happier customers.

3. Run promotions to draw in customers.

Particularly when you’re new to the market, running promotions can be an excellent way to stand out. New customers will come into your store or visit you online to take advantage of the deal.

4. Connect with interested consumers.

Think about organizing social media campaigns that provide helpful or otherwise engaging, interesting content that will delight your target audience. Whether you’re talking about the perks of certain mattresses or you’re entertaining audiences with all the ways you could use old mattresses, building that connection goes a long way toward gaining trust and loyalty.

5. Gather reviews.

One of the best ways to stay on top of the ways your business could change for the better is to collect reviews from your customers. Podium Reviews is one option you can integrate into your website to manage and collect reviews that will boost your search rankings and help you get more customers.

3 Challenges in the Mattress Business

The mattress business has the potential to be profitable, but there are challenges that come with working in this industry. For example, you may need a retail store and showroom to allow people to test your products, or you could risk getting returns or negative reviews.

Other possible challenges that could come up in the mattress industry may include:

1. Changes in how much discretionary income people have. If your target audience is negatively impacted by changes in the economy or inflation, then its discretionary spending budget could decrease, leading to fewer sales of higher-cost items. You may overcome this challenge in several ways, one being through offering financing.
2. Supply chain issues. If your supply chain is negatively affected by natural disasters, problems with suppliers and warehouses, or other issues, you could find it hard to get the right materials in or maintain your inventory. Focus on transparency in the supply chain to be sure you always know where items are and lead times on new orders.
3. Difficulty meeting the price points customers are comfortable with. Prices in the United States have been on the rise due to inflation, and that means costs have gone up for retailers, too. It may be harder to keep a range of items in stock, but one way to resolve this issue is by keeping test mattresses in-store and placing orders for those your customers want. That way, you don’t have to maintain a large inventory to offer a variety of products.

Stay Competitive With Podium

With a new mattress company in mind, you’re preparing to create a brand that offers exactly what your target audience is looking for. But, this is a challenging industry, and you’ll be dealing with competition that has been in the game longer than you.

With Podium, you can get and stay competitive. Use Podium Reviews to capture as many reviews as possible and raise your brand in search results. Then, add Podium’s AI employee to monitor your consolidated inbox, responding to customers faster than the competition.

Ready to see how Podium can make you a leader in your space? Watch a demo to see how Podium works and why it’s the best choice for a growing business like yours.