Bed in a box: Should you buy a mattress online?
“You go with a mattress that tries to cover the widest range that you can. For the people on the extremes, people who want an exceptionally firm mattress or on the other end of the spectrum … the bed-in-the-box model right now might not work for them.”
— DALE LUCKWITZ, SPOKESPERSON FOR HAPPSY
If it’s been more than a few years since you’ve shopped for a new bed, mattress-buying has changed dramatically.
Although most people still prefer buying a mattress in a physical store, a research report from the Better Sleep Council, a nonprofit organization supported by the sleep-products industry, showed 27 percent of people would consider buying a mattress online.
Those numbers are rising fast. According to the Internet Retailer Home Goods Report, seven of the 10 fastest-growing online home-goods retailers sell only mattresses.
Is buying a mattress online right for you? Should you be nervous about buying something as important as a mattress without lying on it? If you’re thinking of buying a “bed in a box,” here are some things to know.
› How it works. Online mattress sellers can offer lower prices than physical stores since they’re selling directly to consumers and usually offer just one mattress type, in sizes twin through California king, usually made of foam or latex as a main layer. With one mattress design, sellers seek to please most, but maybe not all, people.
Dale Luckwitz, spokesperson for Happsy, a yearold company that sells a mattress made from certified organic materials (queen, $1,199), said the company wanted to make healthier mattress materials affordable, and a simplified model allows it to control costs.
“You go with a mattress that tries to cover the widest
range that you can. For the people on the extremes, people who want an exceptionally firm mattress or on the other end of the spectrum … the bed-in-the-box model right now might not work for them,” he said.
Mattress stores may allow more customization of mattresses, but online retailers are trying to offer semi-customization. Luckwitz said Happsy has a mattress topper that can adjust the feel of the mattress. Another online retailer, Helix, offers buyers a choice of pocketed coils, foam or both, with a queen size starting at $995. Casper now offers a budget bed, Essential (queen, $600), and a higher-end mattress, Wave (queen, $1,850), in addition to its original bed (queen, $995).
Most online retailers offer free shipping and lengthy trial periods, anywhere from 100 to 120 days. Philip Krim, chief executive officer of Casper, said mattress delivery can be as quick as same-day for some metropolitan regions to a few days for other regions.
If you don’t like the mattress after sleeping on it during the trial period, many bed-in-a-box retailers make it easy to get a refund. Krim said Casper will give a full refund and will arrange to find a local organization that will accept a donation or recycle the used mattress, and many other online retailers will do the same.
Luckwitz said handling mattress disposal may vary because of state or local regulations, but helping customers get rid of the bed via a third party is important. “If you’re buying a mattress from us or any other bed in a box, it’s a contract and you’re taking a risk. We’re going to make it super easy for you to return this. Otherwise the model doesn’t work,” he said.
› Quality. Sara Morrow, deputy home editor at Consumer Reports, which just tested various bed-in-a-box mattresses, said the quality of most of these beds is high, and many scored in the excellent or very good range in their tests.
Morrow said of the 15 foam mattresses they recommend, 12 are available online. But consumers should know foam mattresses can sleep different from the traditional innerspring construction found in mattress stores, which is still the most popular type, she said. In their tests they’ve noted shifting positions can be easier on innerspring mattresses than with foam, and she said some readers have told them foam mattresses, especially memory foam, tend to sleep hot. A few online retailers like Happsy and Helix offer pocketed coil construction, which can be more stable than innerspring.
Getting the mattress from your doorstep to the bed may require two people, as the boxes can be heavy — queen sizes can weigh between 70 and 100 pounds — plus buyers need to think about how to get rid of their old mattress, she said. Some online retailers offer “white glove” service where they’ll set up the new mattress and haul off the old one, but check if that’s an extra price, she noted.
“If you start adding fees on top of that, it might not be any cheaper than going the traditional route,” she said.
The nervousness people may have about buying a mattress online may not be an issue for long as some of the bigger online retailers are starting to have pop-up shops and mattress examples in major retailers. Online retailer Leesa has a bed in West Elm (queen, $940), and Casper has its budget mattress in Target stores.
While mattress stores always seem to have some sale going on and allow haggling, Morrow said it’s worth it to chat online with bed-in-a-box retailers to see if you can get discounts.
“I think it’s always worth asking if they have promotions coming up or if they have anything available now. … Sometimes they throw in free pillows or a free mattress cover, but it’s always worth exploring that,” she said.