Mattress purveyor Urban Mattress is debuting a new ecommerce Web site that provides an emphasis on personalization, something that the traditionally bricks-and-mortar mattress industry is sorely missing in its transition to digital sales.

Mattress Match will allow customers to identify the perfect bed for their sleep type, and the site is designed to both mirror and complement the comprehensive in-store purchasing experience. The site is mean to combat the glut of online mattress sellers that have emerged on the scene, and Urban Mattress is not shy in slapping the “one-size-fits-all” pejorative onto their competitors, as many of them — such as popular ecommerce mattress seller Casper — only offer one option.

“Finding the right mattress is key for any customer,” said Billy Williams, CEO of Urban Mattress. “No two people sleep exactly the same, so why should everyone be expected to sleep on the exact same mattress?

“Everyone has unique needs, and it can be difficult to match needs to product online,” he said. “We built our site in such a way that the customer can self identify their sleep-style, and use our extensive filtering to find the perfect match for their needs.

“We’re confident in the site we’ve built, and so far our customers are very happy.”

Urban Mattress
The company claims that although aggressive digital marketing strategies have positively influenced sale data, return and review data indicate that consumers are not nearly as satisfied than when they go through an in-store purchase experience, Urban Mattress’ bread and butter and also one of the lingering presences among many retail sectors that have been quick to shift a large component of their business models to ecommerce.

Urban Mattress has integrated sleep and industry data to determine what kind of mattress each consumer needs, from recognizing personal characteristics like sleep type and need to naming buyer criteria through its own algorithm. The results are displayed in an interactive gallery with added viewing filters, making it easy to navigate and compare.

In order to “accommodate every age and stage of life,” Urban Mattress carries four core lines of beds that include good, better and best models, which will all be offered on the ecommerce site. The diversity of Urban Mattress’ retail portfolio could be a key reason as to why the company is choosing to focus on marketing the benefits of personalization in purchasing a mattress.

Ecommerce personalization
Now that most retail outlets have rudimentary ecommerce infrastructures in place, personalization has become a hot-button topic. Recently, beauty retailer Sephora took a huge step in ecommerce innovation by rolling out an artificial-intelligence-based application that helps consumers find specific shades by simply uploading a photo (see story).

And even products outside of ecommerce are catching the bug: Fitbit recently rolled out a new Fitstar personal trainer application that touts Fitbit’s most personalized app experience yet, along with data-driven mobile video capabilities and a new user experience design (see story).

“The site was built with a mobile-first mindset,” Mr. Williams said. “We’re seeing about half of our visitors come from a mobile device, and we wanted to make sure that the customer experience on the small screen is just as intuitive as it is on a desktop.”