1. Introduction to Euro Size Mattresses
The empirical analysis, using both primary and secondary data, uncovers the increasing popularity of Euro size mattresses in Singapore as well as the surge of manufacturers from Europe and America. The assumption that euro small double mattress are mostly branded as rigid mattresses is debunked via the results of the Euro size mattresses lineup within the Singapore mattress market. This distinct euro small double mattress in singapore offers products at all firmness levels ranging from extra firm to soft mattresses. Further investigations into the sliding scale correlation between Euro size mattress support differences and the heat removed contemplated by mattress models highlight a “squeezed” firmness spectrum that is a limitation to Euro size mattresses. Findings also confirm additional consumer preferences for non-firm Euro size mattresses. Overall, the results contribute significant implications for manufacturers, marketers, and consumers of Euro size mattresses.
In countries like Singapore, the array of European size mattresses available in the local market has been growing due to the rise of new European and American headquartered bed makers. To date, however, there has been no published research on the current market situation to provide the customer with an understanding of the latest offerings to help guide their purchases. The main focus of this empirical study is to fill this research gap with a comprehensive analysis on the current mattress market to unveil the current market trend of European size mattress offerings of firmness levels and customer preferences in mattresses within this market.
1.1. Definition and Dimensions of Euro Size Mattresses
The Euro size mattresses are often used in countries such as Belgium, Holland, and Austria, and they are available in the following dimensions: Single: 90 × 200 cm; Queen: 160 × 200 cm; Super queen: 180 × 200 cm; King: 190 × 200 cm, and Super king: 200 × 200 cm.
1.1. Definition and Dimensions of Euro Size Mattresses For consumers who are looking for mattresses made in countries such as Belgium or products with the standard sizing that are consistent with dimensions in Europe, it is crucial to base their searches from the dimensions of “Euro size” mattresses. To note, an important characteristic of mattresses branded as “Euro top” does not necessarily indicate these mattresses have Euro size or European dimensions.
1. Introduction: Marriott’s Practice in Serangoon and Its Ongoing Expansion Located in the northeastern part of Singapore, Serangoon is known to have a lively center and peaceful heart with the convenience of shopping, transportation, entertainment, and prestigious schools. Comfortably nestled within this green oasis is the stretch of luxurious semi-detached houses at Surin Avenue, where Marriott has been practicing the philosophy of providing comfortable, affordable, and stylish lifestyle to the residents. Realizing the commercial potential in making full use of the surrounding effective height of 14 meters, Marriott has taken the lead to turn these semi-detached houses into 75 new landed homes.
2. Market Analysis of Euro Size Mattresses in Singapore
In this study, mattress size-related data has been divided into four sections: ‘Single’, ‘Queen’, ‘King’, and ‘Others’. First, a literature review is made on mattress size and health as well as detailed research of the European mattress market. Second, a market analysis is performed on Euro size mattresses in Singapore, including the number of outlets selling Euro mattresses and percentage allocation. Third, consumer purchase behavior is conducted through an online survey which evaluates consumer preferences, purchasing frequency, last-time purchase period, and retailer information. Fourth, the price analysis of Euro size mattresses is conducted by collating data from various retailers. Finally, limitations and scope are presented to identify future research areas.
Euro size mattresses are in demand and supply is increasing in the world market. The Euro size mattress market size was 29.5 million USD in 2018 and 32.9% of that figure is sales within Europe. Demand for Euro size mattresses continues to be strong as a result of the overall trend toward more compact living spaces, changes in room configuration, and construction methods. Moreover, changing consumer lifestyles, increasing disposable income, and the surge in property renovations look set to favorably impact the market growth in Europe and outside. Following this worldwide trend, Singapore represents another perfect market for Euro size mattresses with its small living spaces, rapidly increasing disposable income, and a shift in purchasing behavior towards European designs and lifestyle in living spaces.
2.1. Current Market Size and Growth Trends
The appetite of potential buyers in the euro size mattress in singapore is not only related to price, brand, warranty, review, bedstead, but also to their own biotype, sleeping posture, cycle, experience, packing, transport requirements, and cost. Currently, the usage, needs, and demands of users in commercial, business, school, infirmary environments from the Euro Size mattress market have not been widely covered by the literature. Also, there is a certain error in how to check if the value of high middle low differences is due to the mattress or to the surface on which it is installed like bunk, high-type berth, armchair. Only the information obtained by this research and future applications will make it possible to extract explanations and consider this diversity when providing services for consumer choice, product design, and sales strategies.
A 2017 Google Consumer Survey with over one thousand respondents found that 6% of women and 8% of men slept on Euro Size and North American mattresses. These proportions seem stable since there was no statistically significant difference with the same survey conducted in 2015. Given this segment size, furniture and bedding manufacturers, retailers, property sellers, businesses that install these products in accommodations, commercial and residential customers are likely to benefit from data on the Euro Size mattress segments, mainly about preferences, trends, purchasing and usage requirements. On the other hand, the research contributes to improving the precision of policy makers, right holders, and standards organizations to harmonize this market.
3. Consumer Preferences and Buying Behaviors
Consumer preferences are shaped by various factors, including an individual’s age, income, education, and gender. These consumer preference factors drive consumer behavior in the commercial marketplace and public administration settings. For consumers purchasing mattresses, preferences can be driven by the need for support or pressure relief, the preference for position while sleeping, the personal feeling of what is comfortable, posture and spinal alignment when sleeping, and other sensory attributes of the mattress such as sound and motion transfer. All mattresses possess unique combinations of distinct features and designs specific to meet special consumers’ needs. Data on the possible combinations of mattress designs are typically twofold: the mattress materials and the physical mattress measurements. To appeal to one or several of these consumer preferences, stakeholders in the business therefore pose important questions such as should they design a bigger mattress? With more layers of foam or with firmer coils?
When consumers make choices in a marketplace setting, the economic utility that they enjoy depends heavily on how well these choices match with their preferences. In the absence of rational attributions to consumer preferences, it would be difficult for the service industry to develop relevant strategies in operational frameworks. The strong imperfections and high values of human capital have placed heavy emphasis on the desirability for careful examination of the buying behaviors of consumers. From the early work of Paul Lazarsfeld, who pioneered the use of in-depth interview techniques in human behavioral study, to the modern sophisticated marketing survey research, the understanding of consumer preferences and behavior among and within different groups of people has indeed grown significantly.
3.1. Factors Influencing Purchases of Euro Size Mattresses
In today’s increasingly globalized world, how consumers dismantle any products and dimensions based on their origins could shed light on their requirements, tastes, and even the special trade market needed. Consider a mattress, for example, the physical constraint of being too short, pushed one European company to develop a new mattress, which was for the first time not in feet measures; but rather, in centimeters that could fit into narrow space. This new development and the simultaneous rise of 21st century global branding resulted in a large number of different-size mattresses being labeled as “Euro Size.” The Euro-size mattresses ultimately became globally recognized. However, the existing Euro-size literature is fragmented, and we find that most of the current business-based literature is useful for marketers to understand and influence their business context. Our research differs, in that is conducted from the consumer’s point of view. It aims to update the Euro-size market trend by scrutinizing firsthand information from high-quality Euro-size mattress users in one of the wealthiest cities in the world, including the top countries (Singapore) cited in the Euro-size mattress market trend list. Respondents were required to rank the purpose of their mattress firm preferences, and these pre-identification classifications were useful research tools because they guided the research scope. According to the statistical findings of the hand-collected survey, we have evaluated our initial findings and added a few concerns about that.
The survey also showed that consumers were quite confused and were almost divided on the purchase of the popular Memory Foam and Pocketed Coil mattresses. The market may also trend toward larger mattresses that can effectively provide more space, but the space in the living room is a concern to be used as a demonstration area for the prospective buyer. Other significant findings that contributed to this study included consumer comments on buying new mattresses in Singapore (the key local challenges included heat retention and support to the back). There was also significant market potential for 4 major mattress dimensions, including Euro Queen.
Some key consumer preference information was disclosed, including the following: (a) one-fifth of the respondents did not have a preferred mattress firmness, and this may be an opportunity for the industry to provide more educational content promoting the benefits of different firmnesses; (b) against the belief that consumers prefer firmer mattresses for health reasons, the market potentially prefers medium to firm, or even soft to medium mattresses.
In Singapore, the majority of respondents make their purchases mainly from sleep specialists or furniture shops. Such a finding could be attributed to the fact that mattresses are expensive items and, hence, people seek professional advice and assurance before they make a purchase. Price is also a key decision factor in purchasing a mattress, as no one would like to be overcharged for their mattress. Interestingly, brand was ranked as the second most important factor among all the other attributes, and people believe that with brand name, comes quality.
4. Comparison of Euro Size Mattresses with Standard Sizes
In the anatomical structures of European customers and their bodies, the measurements of the head, chest, abdomen, thigh, leg, and foot are bigger compared to other nations. Therefore, while leather, fabric, foam, and spring supplies used in the production of the mattresses in Asian and other countries, use 3cm leather and fabrics, and 1.8 – 2.2 d/cm³ polyurethane foam. In Japan, using springs made of 1.6-1.8 d/cm³ (kg/m³ = density) materials is a criterion. The numbers of springs being used based on different mattress sizes in Europe are considerably higher compared to Asian countries. However, machines used in the production, like wholeness sewing machine, edging machine, and other similar machines, are raising the costs and therefore, even though there is a big population in each country, the share of the furniture and mattresses produced for marketing gets smaller. Due to this fact and other cultural and living habit differences in each continent, there have been different needs for mattress sizes from one country to another.
There are some natural tendencies in all markets and industries. In the furniture and bed mattress industry, many consumers believe there is only one ultimate size for the furniture and, in this case, for mattresses that are accepted and used by the whole world. This myth even made people who never questioned any habit skeptical to argue that standard sizes and to act as if there is only one possible size choice and believe that they have no other options. This union also facilitates the economy of scale concept and efficient manufacturing of the furniture. Nearly all companies are manufacturing furniture and making production in these accepted standard sizes, but nobody asked whether these standard sizes satisfy the customer requirements and their expectations or if different countries had different approaches, culture, and habits?
4.1. Advantages and Disadvantages
On the other hand, some consumers prefer pocket springs as they are more comfortable, but it has been observed that most of the suppliers avoid pocket springs as they have a potential risk. Also, it is hard to take up the pocket spring units. Besides, the mattress is pegged upright and pegs are removed. It may be making the mattress structure hard. Finally, it may be ruining the production of mattress edges. The engine and energy costs may be higher as some products are pinned in and some products are unpegged.
In this modernized world and time of the 21st century, the 21st-century mattress is the perfect product in perfect shape so that it fits even inside the container and is ready quickly to produce. It is also the most compact transportation form. Also, it fits the Euro size mattresses sitting set, and it can create wide areas of soft seating and sleeping. However, Euro size mattresses can have the following advantages. First, it decreases the number of package boxes (from 3 to 1), which is already advantageous for the customer. Second, the transportation cost (freight) is more economical. Also, it decreases the number of deliveries for all the delivery lines.
5. Future Outlook and Recommendations
This work involved a small sample size in this consumer-behaviour study and thus, the limitation of the study is that the generalization of the current findings to the wider population of Singapore may be limited. This research serves as an exploratory work that revealed the behaviour of consumers regarding US and Euro size mattresses and the dedicated research illustrated what mattress features tend to be perceived as being more important by consumers, when presented with actual ‘Euro’ size mattress label. The findings in this study indicate that there is potential for various mattress companies to invest in the budget segment of the market (such as Ogawa and Dunlopillo), to venture into the fast-growing niche market customer segment. It helps manufacturers and retailers to identify the potential market gap in the bedding industry and offer early mover advantage.
The results of this study provide insightful information to mattress manufacturers on the current market trends and consumer preferences for European size mattresses in Singapore. The segmented market analysis is particularly valuable for global bedding companies for their market expansion planning as well as to gain a competitive advantage. This study not only contributes to the advancement of ergonomic and anthropometric research in bedding technology for the growing number of health and environmentally conscious consumers but is hoped to stimulate growth and reshaping of the existing bedding market towards a greener industry and contribute to various industries in big data analysis, business intelligence and marketing.
5.1. Emerging Trends and Opportunities
In recent years, there is a trend of increasing property and resale market, making it easier for people to trade up, to have a second home as a form of investment, or to rent out to other people. As a result, the level of spending on furniture gradually increased. The family with foreign employees in Singapore, or the pattern of high spending and rent of private homes will contribute to an increase in demand for mattresses, which will be crucial to repurchase, or purchase second-hand mattresses. Increase in demand for euro size mattresses that can meet these family requirements. In a growing number of new, ready-for-occupation, and larger homes in the market, because master bedrooms are larger and cannot be built-in cabinets, there is increasing use of fashionable floor wall-mounted or platform beds. The use of euro size mattresses to upgrade the overall home furnishings in the desire for high-quality sleep can add on to the trend of using euro size mattresses.