The Sleep Company was established to upgrade the sleep quality of every person. Its patent on smart grid technology is an outcome of years of research. Co-Founder Priyanka Salot discusses how the lack of a good mattress in the Indian market led her to design and make one.
When did you start The Sleep Company? What kind of research went into prototyping the right mattress?
We started working on this technology two years back. Three years back, I had become a mother and suddenly realised the importance of sleep. I was struggling to get sleep. Harshil and I tried to find something good. We struggled to find a decent mattress; we tried multiple options and were disappointed with the quality of mattresses in India. With a determination to find a solution, we travelled across to understand and research on different sleep technologies and how we could develop something which can be superior to what is in the market today. We looped in sleep experts and scientists from DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) to work on a new technology and after two years of research was born the smart grid technology and The Sleep Company (with the mission to help upgrade the quality of sleep for each one of us).
How does a start-up brand like you compete with established ones in this segment?
Winning and differentiated Product: We believe a winning product that can truly delight customers is the most critical element. Our smart grid mattress is very different from everything in the market and has been designed to provide ultimate comfort and pain relief. So, there is no need to choose between comfort and health-get both with our smart grid mattress.
Winning customer trust and love: Today, the process of buying a mattress is not only painful but super confusing. We do not know what is good-with hundreds of models out there and every shop around the corner selling a mattress. We want to remove all the middlemen to a) provide a very transparent pricing and supply chain; and b) this ensures we can directly deal with our customers and ensure services that can be a delightful experience versus a painful one.
In the Indian scenario, what factors contribute to choosing one mattress over the other?
There are multiple factors that influence the purchase of a mattress. A comfortable mattress is key. However, the millennial consumer is becoming more aware of different types of mattresses and what really goes inside a mattress. Consumers want to try innovative products that can be better than others. They are not only driven by price points but look at the full value proposition-it's not a commodity anymore but is seen as a lifestyle need.
What was the initial seed capital required? Who are the investors?
Given the scale of R&D, we had to set up a manufacturing unit for making a smart grid and The Sleep Company mattress. We have invested around ₹1.5 crore of capital from our lifetime savings.
What is the market for mattresses in India? What is the average growth rate?
The mattress industry is estimated to be about₹10,000 crore and expected to reach ₹14,000 crore by 2021 (as per estimates of franchiseindia.com). This industry is going through a huge transformation with changing consumer behaviours and needs. We would see digital channels becoming more important with a focus on consumer needs and delighting the buying experience.
How have you priced your mattresses compared to other high-selling mattress brands in India?
Compared to most offline brands' premium models like memory foam, spring or latex we are less than half the price as we cut out middlemen and ensure direct supply from our factory to the customer. However, compared to online memory foam mattresses we are far superior in technology and hence have a higher price.
What are your marketing strategies?
For us, the biggest objective is to drive awareness and education on the smart grid technology and reach more consumers leveraging digital platforms like Amazon, Flipkart, Facebook, etc.
What is the USP of your mattress? What materials, fillers, and cover materials have you used?
The biggest disruption in sleep technology is our USP. We are the first smart grid mattress in Asia-it's a patent pending technology invented by our team of scientists after years of research. Smart grid has no memory foam, no coir, no spring or no latex-nothing that you have heard of in sleeping products. The smart grid has a column structure which intelligently takes the shape of the body. This happens as the walls buckle down on smaller body parts like hips and shoulders to cuddle them while staying firm on bigger body parts like the back to keep the spine straight. This ensures that you sleep all night, every night, no matter what your sleeping position is.
Where is your manufacturing unit? What is the production capacity?
Our manufacturing is done in Mumbai and we can easily go up to 2,000 mattresses per month.
Which are your major markets? What is your retail presence online and offline?
In the beginning, we want to focus only online, and our focus markets are top 50 Indian cities.
What is on the cards at The Sleep Company? Do you plan to add new product categories?
Our objective is to really upgrade the quality of sleep for our customers. We want to become a lovemark in sleeping products category and our objective is to first become one of the biggest online brands. Yes, we do have a lot of exciting plans. To begin with, we will be launching more of sleeping and comfort products in smart grid. (HO)
Published on: 10/10/2019
DISCLAIMER: All views and opinions expressed in this column are solely of the interviewee, and they do not reflect in any way the opinion of Fibre2Fashion.com.
