Casper is an American e-commerce company that primarily sells mattresses. The idea of Casper was thought up by four members of a New York City venture accelerator in 2013. The company aimed to be an alternative to what they called “Big Mattress,” the dominant manufacturers and retailers at the time.

The four brands that made up “Big Mattress” were Serta, Simmons, Tempur-Pedic, and Sealy. The Caspe   founders believed that mattresses sold by these companies were priced too high. The price of a queen mattress at the time from one of these companies could go as high as $2500. In addition, most mattresses were purchased in stores. Casper’s founders believed that the in-store purchasing process was one of the worst buying experiences found anywhere. Customers weren’t able to do much more than lie on the mattress in the store for a couple of minutes. 

Casper applied the business model of Warby Parker to the mattress industry. The four founders particularly admired Warby Parker’s success in offering designer sunglasses at radically low prices and its online sales model. By selling mattresses online, Casper eliminated the traditional painful consumer experience of purchasing a mattress in stores. Casper also distinguished its mattresses by offering them at one-third of “Big Mattress” prices.........

Questions

1. What makes Casper’s products desirable to consumers? What are the specific product attributes that are particularly valued by consumers?

2. How should Casper compete with established companies and start-ups ramping up their direct-to-consumer offerings? Should Casper shift some of its efforts from product innovation to more aggressive communication and brand building?

3. Should Casper focus on extending its product line to try to offer a mattress “for every purse and purpose”? Or should it focus on offering a single type of mattress (in different sizes) in order to streamline innovation efforts and simplify consumer choice?