2016 was a big year for online home furnishings and housewares retailers, and an even bigger year for those that sell mattresses online.
The combined online sales of the 102 housewares and home furnishings retailers profiled in the just-released Internet Retailer Home Goods Report soared 27.5% to $14.7 billion. That was by far the biggest growth rate of all 15 product categories Internet Retailer analyzes.
The biggest growth among online home goods retailers was in a category that, not long ago, might have been seen as among the least unlikely to succeed: mattresses. Seven of the 10 fastest-growing merchants in the online housewares and home furnishings category sell only mattresses. The 11 mattress merchants ranked in the Top 1000 collectively grew online sales 91% last year to just over $1.0 billion.
In most cases, the mattress retailers sell convenience. Many of the mattresses sold online are made of foam and compressed into an easy-to-handle box. In other cases, such as with the inner-spring mattresses sold by Saatva, in-home set up (and removal, in the case of a return) is offered. To make the experience low-risk, online mattress retailers offer long (usually 100 days) in-home trial periods and promise to take the mattresses back and issue a refund if customers don’t like them.
In terms of total sales, Casper is the leading online mattress retailer, with an estimated $200 million in sales in 2016. That represents 100% growth. But, in this category, simply doubling your year-over-year sales did not make you a growth leader in 2016.
The Online Home Goods Report offers analysis of the online home furnishings and housewares and key data on the 102 e-retailers in the category.
The 40-page report also includes:
- Market analysis of Amazon and Wayfair’s home goods businesses
- Online sales and growth by subcategory (including kitchen/bath, lighting, etc.) and merchant type
- Demographics of online home furnishings and housewares buyers
- Charts comparing the online and offline housewares market
- A closer look at the fast-growing online mattress business
For more information on immediate access to this report, click here.
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