Dive Brief:

• Nectar Home, parent company of direct-to-consumer foam mattress brand DreamCloud​, on Wednesday launched Wovenly, an e-commerce rug retailer, according to a company press release.

• It's the first in the company's stable to expand beyond mattresses and other bedding, the company said.

• In the two years since its founding, Nectar Home has topped $300 million in annual revenue and this year saw 600% revenue growth, the company also said. Nectar is deriving much of its sales from small towns and rural areas "across Middle America."

Dive Insight:

As Casper leads a bevy of mattress startups that have shaken the industry, Nectar — already conquering areas of the country not necessarily reached by brands focused on urban millennials — is differentiating itself by expanding its merchandise.

Specialty rugs for the home represent a market on pace to reach some $5.2 billion by 2020, according to Euromonitor data cited by Nectar, and it's poised to benefit greatly from Nectar's platform, the company said. Nearly half of Nectar Home sales come from mobile, the company said.

Adding rugs could help the company in what has become a turbulent market, with online startups jockeying for position and legacy stalwarts struggling to maintain share. Mattress Firm, for example, in October filed for bankruptcy protection that will entail shuttering some 700 underperforming stores within its massive footprint. Meanwhile, direct-to-consumer leader Casper, after partnering with Target last year, opened its first standalone store and has plans for 200 across North America. 

Around the same time Amazon entered the fray, partnering with mattress startup Tuft & Needle and launching private label mattresses at various levels of quality and price. As the competition intensifies, startups have forged partnerships with brick-and-mortar retailers: Williams-Sonoma brands West Elm and Pottery Barn have partnered with Leesa Sleep, and Purple this year began selling through Mattress Firm in some cities.

All players will likely benefit from the downfall of Sears, and Nectar executives said in their statements regarding the news that the winner will be the retailer with the best insights into "consumers' rapidly evolving behaviors when researching, shopping and making buying decisions."