You can't watch TV without seeing a mattress commercial or pick up a newspaper without seeing numerous mattress ads.They are all, in one way or another implying that they have the lowest price and offering the best overall value.

Whether it's a "1/2 Price Sale", a "50% Off Sale", a "Free Box-Spring Sale", "One Day Only Sale", "Best Sale Of the Year Sale", "Free Delivery Sale ", " or the most outrageous one in our opinion, "find it for less and we'll give it to you free." It's our favorite because it sums up the whole mattress buying experience. Of course they will give it to you for free because no two companies have a mattress with the same label or covering. As Consumer Reports said, " it's impossible to comparison shop mattresses."

Why is that the case? It's really quite simple. A mattress is a big ticket item and the only way a mattress store or department store can support their huge overhead is by getting the consumer to spend more than they expected while never lowering their mark-up.

It sounds like an impossible business model but it's not. Because all stores have the same fundamental high overhead structure: expensive rents, high advertising expenditures, high commissioned sales staffs, maintenance, insurance, etc., they're all in the same game. Their objectives and strategies are very similar.

Actually their strategies on "Comfort Guarantees" are also very similar. It sounds like a great feature until you find out once wanting the exchange, that you get hit with restocking fees, penalty fees, and redelivery fees......And they call that a "consumer friendly policy." Make sure to Google "best return policies in the mattress industry" and compare them to Saatva's.

The Saatva business model is very different and very simple to understand. We want to be a pleasant alternative in the same way that Amazon and Zappos was early on. We can sell for a lot less because our lower e-commerce cost structure gives us an unusual competitive advantage.

This is the word picture: When Amazon started to sell books exclusively online, Barnes & Noble with their magnificent large stores in the best locations ( .i.e. high rent ) couldn't compete if a consumer felt comfortable buying online. The outcome speaks for itself. Borders has gone out of business and Barnes & Noble has closed many stores....or more to the point they aren't opening as many new ones...............and Amazon just keeps growing and growing and growing.

At the end of the day, the consumer gets a far greater value if they purchase from a pure online retailer. It's the smart way to shop and it's simple.