Being A Mattress Company vs An E-commerce Company

In 2004, a team composed of a foam expert, a digital marketer, and a machine builder got together in Tennessee to explore the crazy idea of putting a queen size mattress into a box that freight companies would accept. A little over a year later, an industry was born from the imagination and leadership of Bill Bradley. The founders of BedInABox® developed the first machine capable of compressing and packing a mattress into a box small enough to ship. The first mattress in a box was successfully shipped through standard residential ground service and delivered in 2004. That’s how the online mattress in a box industry was launched, with BedInABox® as its leader. We were the first mattress company ever to offer nationwide mattress delivery through standard shipping. Over the past 15 years, however, more companies have started offering mattresses in boxes and mattress delivery through their online stores. But, how many of these competitors design and manufacture their mattresses like we do at BedInABox®? And how many of them outsource their mattresses and simply market these outsourced products?

The Industry Today

The United States is by far the largest market in this business, which explains why the online mattress industry is such a competitive one. A simple Google search will uncover countless online mattress-in-a-box companies. The online mattress industry, which was already growing year after year, has been increasing rapidly since the pandemic. The steadily decreasing number of mom-and-pop mattress stores is partly to blame for this industry growth, too. However, many online mattress companies (such as Nectar and Lull) subcontract the manufacturing of their products. Some of these larger companies might design their mattresses in-house and maybe even choose their materials, but the actual build of the product often takes place under the roof of a separate manufacturing company.

Companies that outsource manufacturing are more likely to ship directly from their manufacturing facility, as well (which could be located in another country). When it is so easy to find an industry supplier that will build and ship products, it allows major mattress e-commerce companies to focus primarily on the services they use to sell their products – digital marketing, financing, return and warranty programs – versus the construction and quality of their products. How can a business guarantee the quality of their product if they can’t supervise the assembly of it? Can they even call themselves a mattress company if they are marketing mattresses they don’t manufacture?

Buy Your Mattress from a Mattress Company, Not a Marketing Firm

Since the start of our business nearly 17 years ago, technological developments have continued to evolve the mattress industry, making it more accessible to others. Every year, we find that the number of sleepers who want to choose their next mattress from the comfort of their own home consistently increases. It is no wonder that the number of mattress companies that are now simplifying their mattress manufacturing and delivery processes is also continually increasing. When these companies want to maximize revenue in this surging market, the easiest way to do so is to by cutting out the expense of designing and developing an American-made mattress in a box and importing a lower-quality, less expensive product to sell, instead. Not only is it easier to subcontract another company to manufacture for you, but it is also more “cost efficient” when you manufacture overseas. So, why has BedInABox® continued to build our mattresses entirely in the United States if it’s a harder process? Because we prioritize quality over quantity.

As previously mentioned, unlike most of our competitors, we do not outsource any step of our mattress production process. What exactly does this mean? We develop all of the foam used to construct our mattresses and assemble all of our mattresses in-house, under the same roof. Our entire production process happens in one location, a claim that most of our competitors cannot make. This claim makes a world of difference in quality control. This allows our team to supervise the assembly of your product at all times. Producing our materials and mattresses in the USA ensures the quality that our customers expect in a mattress. In fact, all of the foam used in BedInABox® mattresses is also CertiPUR-US® certified, which means that the foams that we develop for our unique memory foam mattresses have been tested in accredited labs and are safe to sleep on. We also offer the only USDA Bio-Preferred® memory foam mattress on the market, our Eco-Lux®. This certification confirms that our Eco-Lux® mattress is made with 34% renewable materials. We value high-quality craftsmanship, which is why we produce and assemble our products in the USA under our supervision; and we work endlessly to meet the standards of production, handling, and labeling required to sell a safe and certified product that will bring your family comfort for years to come.