The next time you drive through the city or town where you live, take a look around you. You most likely will drive past several mattress stores, even if you live in a very small place. From small, independent shops all the way up to nationally-known chains, you can find mattresses for sale at a lot of different stores in most towns. Why are there so many mattress stores everywhere?
As it turns out, there are several different reasons why these stores seem to be so popular. First, when people are shopping for a mattress, they like having the option of being able to test it out in person before they buy it. When you order a mattress online, you can read a lot about it but you don’t get a chance to feel what it actually feels like.
When you shop in person, on the other hand, you have a chance to touch and feel the mattress. You can even lay on it to make sure that it is comfortable and well suited to the way that you sleep. Since mattresses are generally quite expensive, it makes sense to try them out before you buy them. Additionally, if you buy a mattress online and it doesn’t work out, the process of returning it can be complicated since mattresses are big and bulky to ship.
When you buy a mattress locally, the company that you buy it from will usually haul your old mattress away, as well. That is why a lot of people choose to buy from stores in their area rather than shopping online. It is a lot easier than having to deal with the disposal of their old mattress on their own – especially if they don’t have a vehicle that is large enough to carry it.
Like all businesses, companies that sell mattresses are in business to make money. As it turns out, it is a lot easier to do that with a mattress store than it is with just about any other type of retail outlet.
If you are wondering why that is, it has to do with the overall profitability of mattresses. The cost of manufacturing a mattress is relatively low. Even high-end mattresses usually only cost a few hundred dollars to make.
If you have ever gone shopping for a mattress, however, you probably already know that they sell for a lot more than that. They have one of the highest markup percentages in the retail industry. In fact, it isn’t uncommon to see mattresses that are marked up 50% higher than the amount they cost to make. Since the profit margins are so high, mattress stores don’t need to sell many products each month to come out ahead.
As you can see, several factors are responsible for the large number of mattress stores that you can find just about everywhere. Not only do customers like to shop for mattresses in person but the high markup percentages make it relatively easy for these stores to turn a profit.