Like any startup idea, there will be objections. Shipping mattresses is expensive, people want to lie on them first, mattresses require research and development spending to develop, a mattress purchase only happens once a decade, etc. All these objections might be right, but they all sound surmountable.
They might be surmountable, but that doesn't make this a better opportunity than a lot of the other opportunities out there, especially for a startup. The costs involved with disrupting the mattress industry as a manufacturer AND retailer are better left to a larger company. Like IKEA, as the article itself pointed out.
This is a cultural artifact. We've reached a point in manufacturing technology where this should no longer be true.
> disrupting the mattress industry as a manufacturer AND retailer...Like IKEA,...
The most comfortable mattress I've ever slept on: A Sultan Fonnes mattress, with an egg crate foam topper from http://www.foambymail.com/ on a platform bed, no box springs. You can leave off the topper and save about $60, if you like, and you wind up with the equivalent of a great firm futon that never bunches up. The combination for Queen is well under $400, including taxes and shipping.
My plan for instant "satisficed" sleep furniture: Buy a cheap platform bed, a Sultan Fonnes mattress, and 3 eggcrate foam toppers. Keep the combination with the topper you like best and sell the other two. No going to the store needed at all. It could all be done through the mail and by delivery in most of the US.
I am not associated in any way with IKEA or foambymail.com except as a customer.
After developing neck+back pain and doing many hours of research this is the solution I arrived at as well. I use an Ikea firm foam bed with a 2.5" memory foam on top. This ends up giving the support of a "medium-firm" many doctors advocate for. For back sleeping, this is by far the most comfortable bed I've owned.
Have you ever tried putting a slatted frame underneath your mattress? In Germany you usually put the slatted frame in a bed, but I found you can also just put that on the floor (plus mattress) to have a very low bedstead.
> Have you ever tried putting a slatted frame underneath your mattress?
No, but I know people who really like slats and none who dislike them. (I wanted to write that I know people who swear by slats and none who swear at them, but that would be an exaggeration.)
I can't have my bed on the floor, because I have my platform bed on risers and 10 big plastic bins underneath so I have a storage bed.
Yeah, putting the slatted frame directly on the floor is just a spleen of mine. Also I didn't want to spend any money on, what people call a "bed", because it doesn't improve comfort. (But can indeed be useful for storage.)
They might be surmountable, but that doesn't make this a better opportunity than a lot of the other opportunities out there, especially for a startup. The costs involved with disrupting the mattress industry as a manufacturer AND retailer are better left to a larger company. Like IKEA, as the article itself pointed out.