Why Do Retail Stores Often Offer Discounts on Brand Name Mattresses?
Have you noticed the frequent discounts in retail stores for brand name mattresses? Have you seen the recent 50% off promotion for Simmons in subway or highway billboard advertisements? Such a significant discount is hard to miss. But have you ever wondered how companies like Simmons can offer such substantial discounts? This is not Simmons’ first 50% off promotion, nor is it the only mattress brand in Hong Kong that regularly offers discounts of 30%, 40%, or 50%. How can mattress retailers, department stores, and brands offer such large discounts? The answer is simple: the pricing of mattresses in retail stores and malls is excessively high. Yes, the prices are inflated. Why are mattresses so expensive in retail stores? If you have recently visited a retail store to purchase a mattress, you might have noticed that all mattresses look the same, but the sales staff cannot clearly explain the advantages of each one, and the prices are much higher than expected, leaving customers confused. Many people share this sentiment when selecting a mattress in retail stores. The price increase of mattresses is the highest among all consumer goods in retail stores. In fact, the actual cost of a mattress sold for 25,000 yuan in a store is not even close to 2,500 yuan. This is a common marketing tactic, where the retail price of a mattress is often set at about 10 to 12 times its production cost. However, compared to other retail products on the market (such as clothing, appliances, or electronics), the pricing of mattresses sold in department stores is definitely the most expensive. But how do department stores and other mattress retailers justify this high-profit pricing? Let us explain…
Lack of Transparency Leads to Confusion When Buying Mattresses
The first reason for customer confusion when purchasing mattresses is the lack of transparency. Since mattresses are not a frequent purchase, consumers have limited knowledge and understanding of mattress construction, leading to a lack of in-depth inquiry into the reasons behind the high prices. Mattress brands exploit this gap, exaggerating their products in advertisements (consider the ‘5-zone or 7-zone support’ slogans); however, in reality, ‘the nth zone support’ has no effect on your sleep quality or comfort. For businesses, as long as they boast about various unnecessary additional features, they have more excuses to raise the price of mattresses. The worst is when some sales staff only think about commissions and recommend mattresses that are not suitable for you. To confuse consumers, some mattress companies take risks and sell the same mattress under different names in different stores, making it impossible for consumers to find the same mattress in other shops and compare their features or prices. With all these factors accumulating, it’s no wonder that you are destined to be confused from the moment you step into a mattress retail store! Mattress businesses deliberately collude to make your selection process bewildering.
Hidden Costs of Mattresses
Another excuse for the high pricing of mattresses in retail stores is the hidden costs. If the mattress you purchase is manufactured abroad (such as Australia, New Zealand, or neighboring Southeast Asian countries like Thailand), the price you pay is mainly for transportation, not the materials and quality in the mattress. Once the mattress arrives in the port, you need to pay additional fees for intermediaries, including distributors and retailers, as well as advertising costs on billboards, buses, and trams, and rent for physical stores and commissions for other marketing channels. When all is said and done, it is clear that less than 10% of the retail price of a mattress is used for its manufacturing; most of the money you pay goes to intermediary companies, rent, and (ironically) persuading you!
Smart Consumers Look for Economical Mattresses Online
Smart consumers have already discovered this situation and have turned to high-quality manufacturers to purchase directly, indirectly cutting off the opportunity for intermediary companies to interfere. This is one of the main reasons for buying mattresses online. Compared to the high overhead costs of physical mattress retail stores, online companies have much lower management expenses, allowing them to sell higher-quality products at more affordable prices – to some extent, everyone is a winner. Although online shopping can save you a lot of money, just like regular shopping, remember to understand clearly whether the mattress you choose has all the important functions needed for daily sleep before purchasing. Never forget to check the materials of the mattress just because you are attracted by the hype; some online stores use cheap sponge as a selling point for mattress design, packaging and selling these mattresses made of more than half cheap sponge under the guise of ‘revolutionary innovation’. But this is not a revolutionary mattress, it is just a cheap way to make a mattress. So, before choosing your next mattress, remember to do your homework. If you are looking for a hybrid mattress with both individually wrapped coils and high-density memory foam, we suggest you try the Hush Home mattress. When you know that the mattress brand you choose does not take advantage of you in terms of price, you will definitely sleep better.
