Dive Brief:
- Casper and Nordstrom last week launched a pop up, available through Aug. 26, in select Nordstrom stores across North America and online, the companies said in a press release emailed to Retail Dive.
- Sleep-In@Nordstrom will feature the original Casper mattress, the ergonomic Casper Wave mattress, Casper's pillow and sheets, and a dog bed, according to the release. The shop will also exclusively launch Casper's newest product, Casper Airy Linen Sheets, designed for hot summer nights.
- True to Casper's brand and to Nordstrom's strong pop-up play, the shop will feature an assortment of home and wellness essentials curated by Nordstrom's pop-up chief, Olivia Kim and her team, the companies said. Those include supplements, skincare, accessories, "edible wellness," pajamas and "restful technology."
Dive Insight:
Pop-ups are nothing new for Casper — the company has run a few of its own in U.S. cities and London — but it's a savvy move to partner with Kim at Nordstrom. As vice president of creative projects there, her fashion-focused Space boutiques and other pop-up efforts have been winners for the department store.
The mattress startup has deployed its recent funding (led by partner Target last year) to expand further into brick and mortar, with concessions at Target, its own permanent locations and now sales through Nordstrom, at least temporarily.
But it turns out that its stores aren't just for showcasing its mattresses — the startup also wants to corner the market on ZZZs themselves. Casper last week opened a lounge and series of sleeping nooks designed to promote relaxation and napping. The experiential concept, dubbed the "Dreamery," is located at its Mercer Street location in New York City.
Casper launched in 2014 and in the years since has, along with fellow upstarts, upended mattress retail, sending legacy retailers like department stores and discounters scrambling. The startups have eschewed humdrum showrooms and convoluted pricing in favor of keeping their "mattress-fits-most" offers in basic bed sizes at a single price paired with long try-out times and free returns.
The mattress upstarts face plenty of category competition, including from mass merchants looking to increase their furniture and home goods sales. Amazon, for example, launched two furniture brands in November. And earlier this year, Walmart announced a new in-house mattress brand, Allswell, as part of a revamped online home destination effort.
But Casper could continue to stand out with locations that include home-like spaces and sales through partner retailers, and its innovative opportunities for sleep.
