Mattresses impact your quality of sleep, so if you have not been getting the kind of snooze you need lately, you should consider getting a brand new mattress.
A little peek into mattress prices today, however, can be discouraging. Why are mattresses so expensive? I looked into it and found 11 reasons that will explain why!
Why Are Mattresses So Expensive?
Mattresses are expensive because mattresses need to be made with high-quality materials to serve their purpose. Additionally, store owners mark up mattresses to secure a large profit, which they will need to compensate salespeople and maintain showrooms in the long periods between each sale. Likewise, your choice of brand and mattress accessories can drastically inflate the cost of a mattress.
In case you are interested to learn more about the high cost of assembling, delivering, marketing, and selling mattresses that makes mattress prices so lofty, keep on reading!
1. Mattresses Are Costly To Make
Mattresses are made with the expectation that you will be using the mattress for several hours a day for at least a decade.
To create a product that can serve its purpose for that long, mattresses have to be made with high-quality materials inside and out.
These materials commonly include polyester fiber, fiber pads, felt, foam, and cotton fiber, which are carefully curated to achieve the manufacturer’s desired results.
Procuring high-quality materials and putting them together to create mattresses is a costly endeavor that is clearly reflected in the mattresses’ selling price.
2. Mattresses Have A Huge Mark-Up
Expensive materials and labor go into the creation of mattresses, but the average cost of producing one does not change drastically from year to year.
What does change is the mark-up on mattresses, which is why you will notice that mattresses can become pricier from one season to another.
These markups are how store owners cover their overhead fees and keep their business running.
Additionally, there is no guarantee when a person will buy a mattress next, so owners need to secure a sizable profit in every sale.
3. Mattresses Need To Be Sold In Showrooms
One of the most expensive things store owners have to maintain are showrooms. Given the way consumers like to test mattresses, showrooms are integral in securing a sale.
However, mattresses cannot simply be lined up or brought out one by one per request. A bedroom ambiance has to be replicated to help consumers make the correct decision.
Moreover, mattresses are huge, therefore making a large floor space a must in showrooms. Naturally, all this effort and additional cost make mattresses more expensive.
4. Mattresses Come In Varieties That Have Different Purposes
Mattresses come in all shapes, sizes, and designs, mainly to address different sleeping concerns that consumers have.
Generally, mattresses can be categorized as spring, foam, or hybrid, but even these have more specific categories that can affect your overall health and comfort while sleeping.
Depending on the type of mattress you buy, you may end up with one that is more expensive than others.
5. Shipping Mattresses Is Quite Expensive
From the factory, mattresses are shipped to different showrooms across the country. If there is a demand for the mattress in other countries, then shipping will cover international fees.
Local and international shipments already cost a lot of money, but what really drives up the selling price of mattresses is the fact that mattresses are not compact.
Even compressed in boxes, mattresses take up plenty of space. As such, more containers are necessary to proceed with a shipment.
All these factors combined can easily inflate the mattresses’ selling price locally and internationally.
6. A Mattresses’ Brand Can Influence The Selling Price
Brand name has a huge influence on the cost of mattresses. Generally, this is because people can ascertain the quality of a mattress simply based on who is selling it.
Some of the most sought-after mattress brands today are Saatva, Allswell, Nolah, Tuft & Needle, and Stearns & Foster.
Anytime you purchase from these brands, you can expect fine mattresses that are sold at a staggeringly high price.
7. Mattresses Can Have Multiple Features
Mattresses can be distinguished not only based on their materials. Today, mattresses also come with a wide variety of features that provide unique perks and comforts.
There are mattresses with cooling features to help the so-called ‘hot sleepers’, and there are orthopedic mattresses that are designed to help people with backaches and poor posture.
Not surprisingly, such features come with additional materials and labor fees, which can set the factory price of the mattress high even before the mattress reaches showrooms.
8. Mattresses Are Often Sold With Accessories
Unless you are replacing your old mattress with the exact same style and brand as the old one, you are likely to buy a new mattress along with the accessories that come with it.
Among the most common accessories mattresses are sold with are the box spring and bed frame, which are designed to go together to maximize the mattresses’ benefits.
Nonetheless, box springs and bed frames are entirely different commodities, their added price can drastically increase the cost of buying a new mattress.
9. Sales People Get Commission On Every Mattress Sold
Salespeople in mattress stores earn a commission every time they sell a mattress.
Since sales is a challenging field and mattresses can be difficult to sell, commissions are used to encourage salespeople to work harder in convincing clients to make a purchase.
Where commissions exist, you can be sure that the cost of paying salespeople those additional funds are included in the final selling price of the mattress.
10. You Are Likely To Get Your Mattress Delivered
Mattresses are difficult to transport, especially if your car does not have sufficient space to accommodate the mattress and any additional accessories you may buy with it.
Consequently, most mattresses are delivered by the store to your address. Apart from saving you from inconvenience, this ensures that your mattress stays in good shape.
Delivery fees can be low-cost or expensive depending on the distance between the store and your address. Either way, it can increase the cost of your purchase.
11. It Takes Years Before You Buy A New Mattress
Mattresses are built to last. Unless the mattress suffers from serious damage, your next purchase will likely be in the next five to eight years.
In the meantime, manufacturers and distributors need to sustain production and sales, and the safest way to do that is to sell mattresses at a high price.
To read more related posts, you can see our other guides on why blinds are so expensive, why couches are so expensive, and why dining chairs are so expensive.
Conclusion
It takes a lot of materials to create a mattress, and most of these materials are expensive. Additionally, certain types of mattresses take skill and special machinery to assemble.
When you factor in the huge mark-ups by store owners to compensate for their showrooms and the gap between each purchase, it makes sense why mattresses are expensive.