Q] You started your journey as a digital-first brand, but you opened your 100th store in a short time. Going ahead, which area will you be exploring more?
Priyanka: We’re a digital-first brand, but two-and-a-half years into our journey, we decided also to go offline as suggested by our customers. Since ours is a touch-and-feel category, consumers want to see the product before making the purchase. This is why we have been using the ROPO (Research Online and Purchase Offline) approach. People learn about us online and then visit our experience store. Today, if you are in the top 30 cities, you can find our experience centres within 15 minutes of driving distance, and that’s where the purchases are being made. We are the fastest-growing brand in this category, and going ahead, the focus is on doubling our presence to 200 stores. We play in the sleeping and sitting category, and you will always see innovation coming from us. On top of that, we will continue taking strides towards driving awareness around the importance of sleep, and our smart technology products.
Q] Along with solidifying its offline presence, The Sleep Company has also been very active in communications. You recently launched ‘The Deep Sleep Challenge’ campaign featuring Anil Kapoor. What was the thought behind it?
Priyanka: We have been associated with Anil Kapoor for over three years, and it’s our fourth campaign with him. The Sleep Company’s focus is on helping our consumers sleep better and more peacefully using our mattress, no matter what happens in their surroundings.
Q] You have big names like Anil Kapoor, Jim Sarbh, and Karan Johar associated with your brand. What prompts you to pick such celebrities.
Priyanka: Before picking a partner, we ask them to try our products, and they come on board only if they love the product. We believe that the celebrities talking about The Sleep Company should be users of our products. Most importantly, there has to be synergy between the person we work with and what the brand stands for.
Q] You are taking an omnichannel approach when it comes to distribution, but what is your approach to communications? Could you paint a picture of your marketing mix?
Priyanka: As mentioned earlier, we are big on the ROPO approach so we are still digitally skewed on the media mix. People become aware of our products online and then purchase from our offline stores. Therefore, 90% of our spends are dedicated to online, where we use Meta and Google to increase our awareness.
Q] The Sleep Company recently revealed that for the financial year 2025, they have kept a sum of around Rs 80cr for marketing. How do you plan on using it and will you also include traditional mediums in your marketing mix now?
Priyanka: Our intent has always been to learn more. We were one of the first brands to disrupt omnichannel marketing and create a new playbook for building an omnichannel brand. Due to our strong digital presence, no matter where we open the store, be it any Tier or area, our stores turn profitable in just a month. It’s a very different experience from any retail business. If we talk about traditional media, we use a lot of Print and have also been experimenting with Outdoor and TV. Going ahead, we will continue to experiment and find more ways by which we can reach more consumers.
Q] The Sleep Company emphasises on quality and technology that goes behind the products. What is your larger vision here?
Harshil: People are starting to get more aware of their health. Health is not just about exercising and eating well; good sleep is also important. Mattress is a strong derivative of that. India is the second most sleep-deprived country in the world and we also have people suffering from back or shoulder pain largely due to the sedentary lifestyle. Therefore, we have put the onus on ourselves to educate customers and provide them with the right products. People spend close to one-third of their lives on their beds, and hence, it is important to choose the right products. We even have a sleep lab, through which we are trying to show how our technology is better than the others. It’s a true material-based innovation which is new in this industry, and that’s why we are revolutionising and disrupting it.
Q] While there is a focus on science and technology, your products are relatively expensive. Considering the price points, how do you stay ahead of the competition?
Priyanka: It’s a myth that our price points are higher; we are very competitive compared to any legacy brand in the country. If you look at the big brands – Sleepwell, Kurlon, Duroflex, and Sheela– their king-size mattresses start at Rs 22000. We, on the other hand, start from Rs 19000. The reason we can offer this superior technology at a very competitive price is because we are integrated backwards as well as forward. We manufacture our products end-to-end and we sell them in our stores. The whole process is devoid of middlemen, retailers and distributors. However, these traditional companies get over 90 percent of their business through retailers and distributors. This is why they end up paying between 30 to 40 percent margins, shooting up the price of the mattress.
Q] Your brand is on an expansion spree. In this process, how are you trying to woo Bharat?
Harshil: We are already present in 30 cities and some are relatively smaller cities, such as Guntur and Vijayawada. Such cities have shown great interest, as people residing there are very aware, and they know what they want. Moving forward, we will open more stores in different cities. This demand is not restricted to the top cities and the ecosystem is quite strong.
