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Comment by tdeck | Hacker News Reader

Worth listening to this story from Marketplace: Why are there so many mattress stores?

https://www.marketplace.org/2016/05/02/world/why-are-there-s...

Basically, mattresses in the US are sold at a very high markup (couple hundred times the cost) so it's an easy way to make money.

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> Basically, mattresses in the US are sold at a very high markup (couple hundred times the cost) so it's an easy way to make money.

then, is there any reason why no-one disrupts the market with cheaper mattresses?

That's what's happening

Where? I want a cheap good mattress and Casper just seems to be expensive.

There are plenty of cheap yet decent foam mattresses on Amazon. Check out the "Lucid" ones. They have a variety of firmness to choose from ... I don't use it as a daily sleeper but slept on one recently and it was quite nice. Plus it's one fifth of the price of Casper or traditional inner spring ones.

If you really want to score a deal on one, find the one you want and track it via CamelCamelCamel. The prices change daily and if you're patient, you can get it for 30-35% less than the top line price.

Casper is 20% of the price of the mattress store.

Is your price target like $50 for a queen?

They're also twice the price of an IKEA mattress, so it's not exactly like they're a massive bargain.

I imagine that the initial capital costs are ....quite high. At least for brick and mortar stores. You need a lot of space to show off mattresses after all.

Combine that with the not-so-great retail story and a bank probably doesn't want to give out loans for a huge retail space that it might not be able to resell.

Though... I bet there's some opportunities when you look at all the malls that are closing down.

IKEA seems to be doing that. Or are they selling matresses at 100x markup too?

Along similar lines: Why are there so many mattress ads on the radio?

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/20...

couple hundred times?

So you're saying my $800 mattress cost $4 to make and deliver?

ok dude..

I could see the markup being twice or even a little more than twice, but not 200x

They must have meant "couple hundred percent".

Yeah that's what I meantz sorry. Noprocrast means I often can't respond to comments or edit my post in time.

The other part of it that the podcast only briefly touches on but I think is integral to the whole story is that mattress stores do not have to hold a large inventory. Mattresses are ordered upon purchase and delivered either to the store location or directly to the consumer as necessary. High markup + low inventory requirements are really what pushes the surplus of mattress retail locations.

Strikingly similar article with a few different details: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-science-behind-beha...

It is nowhere near a couple of hundreds times cost. How about 2 orders of magnitude less.

Apologies I mean percent, it's too late to edit now.

Because margins are high, it is an attractive business meaning that competition is high. So it is actually difficult to make money and requires tons of investment in marketing, brand building and distribution.

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