Being a mattress company you wouldnt think that hard data would be a mission-critical factor, but Eve Sleep PLC (LON:EVE) is not a mattress company, and things are a little different in 2020.
Eve is one of the survivors of the mattress wars of the middle of the previous decade, when developments in foam technology allowed quality mattresses to be delivered in a box, and the sector was springing up with Silicon Valley-like startups excited at the potential to disrupt a staid industry.
While many hundreds of thousands of new mattresses were sold in the intervening years, the market has thinned as several of the aspiring players have dropped out of the UK and Europe, including major rivals Leesa and Casper.
Now led by Cheryl Calverley, Eve has been focused on broadening itself into a sleep wellness company as part of a total restructuring of the business
Calverley joined as chief marketing officer in 2018 and worked on the initial rebuilding process under her predecessor as CEO, but the former Unilever and AA marketing executive was given the top job in May this year.
Like a memory-foam mattress it is an almost ergonomic fit, as Calverleys specialist area of marketing has always been a key battleground in the mattress wars, but she is dialling up the focus on the customer and how the companys application of data, along with continued broadening and improvement of the product offering.
Eves Premium Hybrid mattress is the best mattress available in the UK, according to Which? tests.
“That is incredibly helpful as thats a product that sells very strongly without a huge amount of marketing or promotion. It shows if you can get your product right they will sell themselves to some extent,” says Calverley.
“But half of what we sell is not mattresses,” the psychology graduate emphasises.
“Thats really important to us as the long-term growth of the business is reliant on being much more than a once-every-three-or-four-year purchase.”
This is where the marketing and customer data come in, as Eves positioning as a brand — not just a mattress company but a sleep wellness company — is hugely important.
“Our positioning is important as its what allows us to get more value out of every customer that we acquire.
“I would like us to be seen by customers as a sleep wellness business rather than just a mattress brand and therefore trusted by customers for a much wider range of things, beyond just mattresses.
“I also need to give my customer a great experience when they do buy that mattress so that its Eve they come back to down the line, when they want, or need other sleep products.”
The Eve product offering has been widened to include bed frames, pillows, duvets, sheets, mattress toppers, bedroom furniture and versions of most of the above for babies and children.
“Our challenge is to develop other best-in-class products in other areas of sleep wellness. Were constantly thinking about what other products there are that we could develop to help sleep? In broad categories such as light, sound, scent, even.”
With peoples attention turned inward during the lockdown, on top of an existing awareness that people are not getting enough sleep, new trends have emerged where households have been spending more on their homes rather than on eating and drinking out.
As well as a springy top line, Eves recent trading update showed that the front-to-back restructuring has brought long-needed levels of efficiency behind the scenes, and led to the business being cashflow positiveRead More – Source
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