Amazon adds a premium mattress from its Rivet brand

Dive Brief:

Following the introduction last month of a private label foam mattress assortment, Amazon has upped its game in the space with a more premium mattress line through its Rivet furniture brand, as noted by TJI Research.
The new Rivet Memory Foam Mattress is now available on Amazon in full, queen, and king sizes, priced from $449 for a full size to $624.99 for a king. The Rivet mattress prices are about twice the e-commerce giant's AmazonBasics mattresses, according to a TJI Research blog post.
Customers can return the mattress for a full refund within 100 nights, a return policy mirroring those from Purple, Leesa and Casper, among others. Mattress Firm allows a 120-day trial, while Nectar Mattress allows a full year.

Dive Insight:

Amazon last month joined in the online mattress fracas that has several players jockeying for market share in the segment, with affordable versions from its high-performing AmazonBasics private brand. But with its new Rivet line, it's taking things up a notch. For the Rivet version, Amazon has incorporated proprietary materials from Celliant and LURAcor foam into its the mattresses, according to the TJI Research blog post.

The AmazonBasics pricing was already a shot across the bow in the space, with prices met or beat only by Wayfair and Walmart, according to data from retail consultancy firm Magid. The AmazonBasics options include twin, full, queen, king and California king sizes, and in various thicknesses, starting at $130 for the thinnest twin. Those price points were "aggressively low," according to Magid SVP of Retail Matt Sargent, who told Retail Dive in an email that the move would "undoubtedly put pressure on competitors to react."

Casper's CMO brushed off concerns about Amazon's entry into the market earlier this month, telling Retail Dive it was "not something that keeps us up at night" and noting that they were playing in the "very, very low end of the market." However, the new effort through Rivet demonstrates that Amazon would like to compete with the leading disruptors in the space as well, which are finding eager consumers even at higher prices. Its chances are good, considering that 62% of customers indicated openness to purchasing private label furniture and mattresses, according to Magid.

In fact, Magid already found Rivet to be resonating with consumers, who are increasingly willing to bypass national brands like Serta and Sealy. Those indicating that they're open to considering private label mattresses were more open to private brands like Target's Threshold (94% openness) and Amazon's Rivet brands (87%) when compared to national brand Serta (79%).

"The simple interest in these brands among private label 'seekers' is likely one of the key drivers for Amazon's desire to jump into the private label space, and should present an opportunity for furniture retailers seeking to differentiate themselves in an increasingly competitive market," according to an email from Sargent to Retail Dive.