About Casper

In 2014, Casper’s five founders launched the direct to consumer mattress brand with the intent of delivering a high quality mattress at a low price, with free delivery and a 100-day trial program. In their first month, the brand generated sales of $1 million in their first month, and hasn’t looked back since. There appears to be no end in sight for the brand’s growth, with nearly a million satisfied sleepers, solid reviews, $240 million of cash from investors, and a key partnership with Target stores.

Products and Pricing

Casper has grown beyond their original one-mattress business model, and now offers three different mattresses: The Essential ($350 – $725; 8.5″ thick, 3 layers of memory foam), The Casper ($595 – $1,195; 10″ thick, 4 layers of foam), and The Wave ($1,095 – $2,395; 11.5″ thick, 5 layers of foam).

The direct to consumer brand shows an average mattress review rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars (after 13,815 reviews, on the day of this report). The company also sells a range of bed-related products and accessories: pillows, sheets, duvets, frames, foundations, and even a dog mattress! We’re curious to see if their 5,000-square-foot “Casper Labs” operation in San Francisco will deliver further sleep-related innovations.

How Casper Delivers Value

Casper isn’t the true low cost leader in the space, with brands like Tuft & Needle offering lower costs on the day of our review (Casper is roughly $100 more expensive, with less foam thickness / mattress height, comparatively). However, Casper’s big advantage over direct to consumer mattress brands is their partnership with Target Stores, where you can go lay on one of the Casper mattresses and try before you buy.

Shopping, Trial, and Service

Casper shows 18 exclusive retail locations (Casper stores) throughout the US, but the biggest advantage comes with their partnership (and investment from) Target stores, which have Casper mattresses on display for trial.

Like the other No Middleman direct to consumer mattress brands, Casper offers the 100-night trial program, where consumers are given 100 days to return their mattress, in addition to a 10-year warranty covering manufacturing defects and deterioration.

Customer service looks exceptional across the board, with 12-hour windows for phone support, seven days a week. Casper also offers online chat, text message support, and even a responsive Facebook presence.

Final Thoughts

Being able to go to any Target store and try out a Casper mattress is a huge benefit for consumers, but will the partnership with Target drain more value than it creates for consumers? Only time will tell, but we believe the partnership was only a short-term step toward Casper’s buildout of their own stores. A dominant chain of company-owned stores would solidify their ability to continue delivering high quality mattresses at competitive price points, while also gaining advantages in customer experience and fast delivery/distribution.

Casper remains a No Middleman favorite, and a brand to watch closely, as they’re paving a replicable path for direct to consumer products in many different categories.