March 10, 2024
In the heart of a bustling Manhattan and right around the block from Bloomingdale’s, Saatva—a direct-to-consumer, online mattress brand—recently opened its first brick-and-mortar location. Strategically located next door to a Mattress Firm, the Saatva “Viewing Room” offers a stark contrast from the mattress shopping experience one might expect to find through its neighbor’s door. For retailers of all types and sizes, there is much to learn from the Saatva in-store experience as the brand takes its own unique approach to selling beds and fulfilling customer needs.
There are quite a few details that make the Saatva viewing room fresh. Taking care to differentiate itself from both the boxed bed DTC machine as well as the more traditional retail mattress, Saatva seeks to deliver a luxury experience in order to market quality mattresses at reasonable price-points. Void of cheap gimmicks, the showroom exudes style and class while also feeling warm and inviting. According to the brand’s CEO, Ron Rudzin, the viewing room is “an extension of our online presence, it’s another way to experience our commitment to delivering white-glove customer service and high-quality, premium products that don’t come in a box.”
So how has Saatva achieved such a nice balance in its space? First of all, the brand hired a designer to help curate the room—and that makes a huge difference. The Viewing Room “is a sensory experience that represents what Saatva stands for,” said designer Vicente Wolf. “When you enter, it’s about dreaming. As a self-guided space, it invites consumers to use the information stations to self-educate and make a purchase that permits them to sleep soundly.” Because it was plotted out by a designer, there’s a certain consistency to the feel of the space and many clever choices in the way that the beds are laid out on the floor.
In the space, there are absolutely no halogen or LED daylight bulbs (as far as we could tell). In fact, there is no harsh lighting at all. Instead, the showroom is bathed in a soft, warm glow that still allows consumers to see the beds well. Lit by a combination of recessed lighting and an underlit cloud-reminiscent shape in the center of the space, the lighting was designed to deliver a calm, soothing feel. Additionally, some of the individual bed vignettes include pleasing and softly glowing mushroom lamps situated on small side tables—creating a cozy and rest-inducing atmosphere.
With the exception of a few beds in the front of the room and against walls, the majority of the mattresses are showcased in the center of the room. This part of the space is carefully partitioned by a frosted divider, which seems to grow naturally out of the cloud shape in the ceiling at the viewing room’s core. This set-up creates a feeling of privacy that should make the process of laying on and feeling out the mattresses a little more comfortable for consumers.
In addition to creating bedroom vignettes throughout the store and having the center partitioned section, the beds against the walls have a velvety curtain hanging behind them to help soften the feel and create a sense of calm.
Using a palette of soft neutrals—including warm beiges, taupes, whites and greys—the showroom offers a universal appeal. It also seamlessly blends fairly modern and clean decorating styles with the more traditional and classic to appeal to a wider audience and create both a familiar space as well as an airy one.
When it comes to the experience of learning about the beds within the space, Saatva doesn’t stick to the status quo. Mimicking an online experience in-store, the self-guided nature of the set-up allows consumers the freedom and comfort of exploring on their own with assistance available when they want it. Furnished with iPad stands that offer access to the Saatva website, the Viewing Room encourages consumers to read about each bed and familiarize themselves with the online purchase process while associates standby to provide assistance as needed.
So many seemingly small choices come together in this space to deliver a much more enjoyable shopping experience. When thinking about small updates to your own shop set-up and in-store experience, some of the simplest changes can have the greatest impact. Simply refreshing the lighting or color palette can be just what the space needs to feel cozy and encourage your customers open up about what they want from their mattress and sleep environment.