Indians prioritise quality sleep, spend more time and money on mattress shopping

Priyanka Salot, Co-founder of The Sleep Company, emphasised the transformation of the mattress category from a commodity to a highly involved decision. Customers now engage in extensive research for 7 to 10 days, inquiring about the mattress's layers, materials, and composition before making a purchase, she told CNBC-TV18.

Chaitanya Ramalingegowda, Co-founder of Wakefit, noted that consumers are now specific about their mattress preferences beyond price and size. Factors such as back support, temperature regulation, and personalised features are influencing purchasing decisions.

Customers are willing to invest significantly in the right mattress, with premium orthopaedic options offering spine alignment, posture support, and temperature control costing between ₹ 30,000 and ₹ 70,000, and some even exceeding ₹ one lakh.

Wakefit revealed that their premium range didn’t exist 18 months ago. “In just 18 months, we've launched it and we are seeing 20-25% of sales coming from there, which means that people are willing to stretch that ₹ 5,000-6,000 in service of their sleep,” Ramalingegowda said.

“As we move ahead, we will see growth in all the segments you will see growth rates coming in the above ₹ 50,000 mattress segment, as well as the sub ₹ 50,000 category also,” Nilesh Mazumdar, CEO of Sheela Foam, which operates the Sleepwell brand, said.

It's not just newer players who are offering tech-enabled mattress solutions and developing new combinations of materials like latex, quilted fabric and next-gen memory foam, to give their products an edge. Legacy players like Sheela Foam are investing more in technology to expand their product range.

“We are putting up a plant in Jabalpur with technology of one-of-its-kind in the entire country or in fact in this part of the world. No other company has that technology which is called the VPF technology,” Mazumdar said. “It is a far more environmentally friendly method of manufacturing foam and it gives certain features which I can bring in the product, which the conventional method of production will not be able to meet,” he added.

According to a report by Mordor Intelligence, the mattress market has generated revenues of over $200 million in 2023. This is expected to grow at a CAGR of nearly 8% by 2028. As per mattress makers, customisation is the latest trend that will drive much of the growth, so no one in the sector can afford to be caught sleeping.