There’s a new focus on health in the bedding and mattress industry — from adjustable bases to built-in Bluetooth sleep monitors that can track your heart rate, and pillows that are clinically proven to improve sleep quality.
With no shortage of companies making an investment in the health category, the most successful businesses are making use of new technologies.
But for those jumping into the category without giving it proper consideration, Gui Peres, president of Dawn House Living, Eromotion’s health and wellness brand, warns that it may not be as easy to learn about the technology as it seems.
“It’s a big shift for us,” he continues. “So we have to watch out for the new players coming into the market that might come from electronics and technology backgrounds. I’m an advocate of having more technology but we need to make sure we’re doing it before someone else disrupts us.”
However, like many other mattress companies have already done, it’s best to find your niche in the category, which is exactly what Dawn House has done by specifically focusing on seniors.
It officially released its Dawn House bed in December 2021 with the goal of helping people have a stylish bed that offers a comfortable sleep system backed by technology.
“As you age, your needs change and evolve,” explains Gui Peres, president of Dawn House. Making sure you have a good night’s sleep is even more important as you age because you need that restorative sleep to wake up refreshed in the morning.”
In addition to tracking a person’s vitals while they sleep, Peres also says “behavioral nudging” is a unique part of the technology.
“As the nights go by, and you’re checking your daily sleep report, you start to see trends,” he says. “For example, one of our users over the age of 65 noticed that when she exercises she snores less at night — because the sleep report tells you how much you’re snoring. And she knows that when she exercises her snoring goes down, which means she’s sleeping better and probably deeper. As a result, she’s waking up feeling refreshed and ready to take on the day.”
And considering the number of Americans ages 65 and older is expected to more than double over the next 40 years and reach 80 million in 2040, there’s a huge market for brands like Dawn House.
Also, Peres says that because of the pandemic, more people have become accustomed to telehealth, which opened the door to products like Dawn House because it allowed older people to have more experience with technology.
And for that reason, the response has been “extremely positive”, according to Peres.
“The initial users we have acquired like being able to track how well they’re sleeping at night over the course of weeks and months, and it has given them the ability to adapt their behaviors during the day so that they can sleep better at night,” he explains. “And with them being more aware of how well they’re sleeping at night, they’re also trying to go to sleep earlier, and maybe staying in bed a little bit longer. You can’t grow what you can’t measure.”
Dawn House products also help people that want to stay home a little bit longer before they transition into an assisted living, home, or assisted living facility, according to Peres.
Both of these niche sectors are in need of attention, and Dawn House specifically utilized technology to help fill that gap.
“Sales for Dawn House have slowly but surely been increasing through our DTC channel as well as in partnering with retailers,” Peres adds. “So things are moving in the right direction.
“As with any startup, it is hard to give exact numbers,” he continues. ‘We are testing unexplored waters and are taking each victory as they come, but what I can say is that it is going in the right direction, mainly with our website, retail partners and senior living industry suppliers.
Peres believes the connection between health and sleep will continue to become more important to people as time goes on — especially when they’re able to measure their health stats and know exactly where to make improvements.
