{"id":94727,"date":"2017-10-20T08:00:57","date_gmt":"2017-10-20T12:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/techvibes.com\/?p=94727"},"modified":"2018-07-05T17:41:16","modified_gmt":"2018-07-05T21:41:16","slug":"endys-foam-mattress-is-winning-over-canadians","status":"publish","type":"magazine","link":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/magazine\/endys-foam-mattress-is-winning-over-canadians","title":{"rendered":"Endy’s Foam Mattress is Winning Over Canadians"},"content":{"rendered":"

Don’t skimp on quality for anything that separates you from the ground. That unwritten rule includes things like shoes, car tires\u2014and of course, mattresses.<\/p>\n

On average, people spend 121 days of the year in their bed, sleeping their way to what\u2019s now a $20 billion industry in North America. That market is largely supported by big box stores that showcase endless offerings of mattresses, pillows and sheets.<\/p>\n

\"Endy<\/p>\n

Endy<\/a> is a Canadian-born company that’s changing the way people shop for and think about what they lay on every night.\u00a0Headquartered in Toronto, Endy\u00a0offers only one mattress; it’s sold online, rolled up into a box and shipped direct to door\u2014and it’s exclusive to Canadians.<\/p>\n

\"Endy
Endy’s Yonge Street office includes a showroom where potential buyers can come by for a test-snooze.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Specializing in just one product has made Endy one of the premier direct-to-consumer brands in the country. The sleep company is on track to\u00a0pass\u00a0$20 million in sales in 2017.<\/p>\n

The Founders<\/h3>\n

Endy was co-founded by Mike Gettis and Rajen Ruparell in 2015,\u00a0combining their different entrepreneurial backgrounds and insights to launch the bed-in-a-box company.<\/p>\n

At the time, Ruparell was heading Groupon International\u2019s Global Partnerships, a role he moved into a few years after the deals site acquired his competitor company Citydeal.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Gettis was an engineer-turned-entrepreneur running Overbrands, a\u00a0testing ground for\u00a0e-commerce products. He saw how direct-to-consumers brands in the United States were beginning to be embraced and liked the idea of reinventing a business category in Canada.<\/p>\n

Gettis brought his idea to Ruparell\u2014a friend he met at the University of Toronto\u2014who understood firsthand the power of online channels.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe model of direct-to-consumer wasn\u2019t really being done in Canada,\u201d said Gettis, who now serves as CEO. \u201cWhat people want is a great product at a good price and delivered fast\u2026 It was in 2014 that we both decided we needed to do mattresses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Endy was spun out of Overbrands with Ruparell investing his own money to get\u00a0the company up and running. After many prototypes, the pair finally landed on a Canadian-made mattress they could sell online at a fair price.<\/p>\n

Based in Toronto’s downtown (with a bedroom-sized showroom), Endy is the leading direct-to-consumer mattress brand in Canada. with the highest customer rating and fewest amount of returns. In 2017, Endy’s team doubled to nearly 20 people and the company tripled its revenue.<\/p>\n

The Product<\/h3>\n

Each mattress\u00a0is made with Endy\u2019s own proprietary foam that claims to minimize motion transfer and prevent overheating. Unlike Tempurpedic offerings that adjust to body temperature, Endy\u2019s mattress responds to pressure.<\/p>\n

\"Endy<\/p>\n

The Endy mattress is completely Canadian-made. From a twin bed to a California King, the mattresses come in six sizes, ranging between $675\u00a0to $950. Packed tightly in a box the size of a hockey bag, the mattress ships for free\u00a0to every Canadian province.<\/p>\n

But figuring out how to make\u00a0a high-tech foam mattress in Canada wasn’t easy,\u00a0explained Gettis.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe weren\u2019t able to set up shop immediately. It was a bit of challenge. Some American brands can find a one-stop shop for production. We had to find five different ones,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Endy has different teams and locations manufacturing the box, the mattress, and the mattress cover, as well as taking care of mattress assembly and shipping.<\/p>\n

\"Endy<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not that Canadians don\u2019t want to buy Canadian made products, there just aren\u2019t always products available for them to buy,\u201d said Gettis. \u201cEvery problem has an opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through their online store, Endy has sold mattresses to people in every territory and province. Gettis pointed out that they\u2019ve found quite the market in Yellowknife where big box mattress retailers aren\u2019t as common.<\/p>\n

The Competition<\/h3>\n

Search direct-to-consumer mattresses online today and names like Leesa, Hyphen and Bedaga will surely pop up. New York City\u2019s Casper<\/a> is the leader of the bunch and Endy\u2019s biggest competitor in Canada.<\/p>\n

To stay on top of the Canadian market, Gettis said it comes down to how Endy sees themselves and their brand.<\/p>\n

\u201cCasper is more of the cool kid, where Endy is friends with everybody. We\u2019re a friendly Canadian-type brand\u2014with a bit of an edge. Our edge has been around being a disruptor against a larger American competitor,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Casper has sold roughly 10,000 mattresses to date in Canada, while Endy hit their 25,000 milestone just this past month. In the early days, Endy tried selling in the United States. Gettis said that they pared back after a year and declared that they were only going to do Canada\u2014and wanted to make sure they did Canada the best they possibly could.<\/p>\n

\"Endy<\/p>\n

\u201cWe needed to find an area where we can win,\u201d said Gettis. \u201cFrom a brand perspective, it is important for us to make our personality clear and why we\u2019re different.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just young hip companies that are rolling out mattresses in a box. Within the past two years, legacy brands like Sealy and Sleep Country have entered the space. That doesn\u2019t worry Gettis who said he welcomes the competition.<\/p>\n

\"Endy
The Endy team enjoys a beautiful space, natural light and comfy vibes.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cMillennials identify with the freedom to move and freedom to make their own choice. Competition only forces the industry to make their product offering better, \u201d said Gettis.<\/p>\n

He added that seeing more familiar and traditional mattress brands release their own foam offering\u00a0has only helped to educate the market about the relatively-new\u00a0product.<\/p>\n

The Future<\/h3>\n

When people are shopping for a mattress, they\u2019re looking for one that\u2019s better than what they\u2019re sleeping on. That at least is what Gettis keeps in mind when talking about the future of Endy\u2014develop the mattress that people want.<\/p>\n

\"Endy<\/p>\n

That\u00a0philosophy\u00a0is reflected in constant changes to the Endy mattress: different foam, different sizes, and different mattress covers. Gettis said it\u2019s easy to drive innovation from inside, but once they hear the same suggestions from customers, they adapt.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to keep on our toes and stay ahead of trends,\u201d said Gettis.<\/p>\n

\"Endy<\/p>\n

Endy’s sleep offerings now include an adjustable memory foam pillow (so customers can make it just the right height) and soon-to-be released cotton sheets.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy dream is to be a prolific Canadian brand\u00a0and recognized across Canada as the place to buy a mattress. And as we introduce more products, we want Endy to be the place where people buy everything that is sleep-related.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Don’t skimp on quality for anything that separates you from the ground. That unwritten rule includes things like shoes, car tires\u2014and of course, mattresses. On average, people spend 121 days of the year in their bed, sleeping their way to what\u2019s now a $20 billion industry in North America. That market is largely supported by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":76241,"featured_media":95284,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[396,1778,1779,1782,1780],"magazine-region":[],"magazine-series":[3161],"magazine-topic":[],"class_list":["post-94727","magazine","type-magazine","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-News","tag-casper","tag-endy","tag-foam-mattress","tag-mike-gettis","tag-rajen-ruparell","magazine-series-spotlight"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/magazine\/94727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/magazine"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/magazine"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/76241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/magazine\/94727\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/media\/95284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94727"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-region","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/magazine-region?post=94727"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/magazine-series?post=94727"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/wp\/api\/wp\/v2\/magazine-topic?post=94727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}