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have over 10 product categories, hundreds of SKUs. E-commerce is still a very significant part of our world, but we are truly becoming an omni-channel retailer where we have almost 25 owned stores across the US and Canada. We have wholesale distribution and partner with Target, Nordstrom
and Hudson Bay and a number of others. We operate in North America and in Europe. Just from a pure business model standpoint, that’s a tremendous evolution.
What three bits of advice would you give to other challenger Chief Marketing Officers?
One, really focus on an unmet consumer need and be able to, with confidence, feel that your products are uniquely qualified to address that. Number two would be take that product to market in a way that from the get-go is defensively differentiated.
Number three would be, don’t go too far, too fast.
If we had tried to do stores in years two or three, or if we had tried to launch smart, connected products in our second year, we probably would have failed. We had to build equity and credibility in our core product and brand. We had to create cultural demand and awareness of our product across
the entire country and then globally. We then
had to think about how we extend our mission
so that we become more than just mattresses.
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