Coronavirus Awakens Mattress Sales in the US

Mattress sales in the United States are peaking up during the COVID-19 pandemic due to people focusing more on home improvement.

Casper reported first-quarter sales increased 26.4 percent year-over-year to $113 million.

In April, Casper's sales rose 15% from the prior year, led by e-commerce growth of over 35% and growth at retail partners of more than 20 percent.

According to Casper co-founder and CEO Philip Krim, people are now paying more attention to every room in their house and purchasing items that they had put off.

Krim added that his company is also seeing increased demand for accompanying products such as pillows and sheets.

Meanwhile, Casper's online-focused rival Purple is also enjoying a rise in sales.

Purple's first-quarter sales increased 46.3 percent to $122.4 million while its direct-to-consumer orders in April jumped 170 percent to $54 million from April last year.

The robust sales allowed Purple to end its temporary leave for a huge majority of its manufacturing employees.

According to Purple CEO Joe Megibow, over half of their mattresses were sold through brick and mortar before the pandemic.

Purple has not seen a decrease in unit sales over the last one and a half months, just a seismic channel shift from offline to online purchases.