Wakefit wakes India up to sleep, grows beyond mattresses

Riya Sethi

Furniture now contributes 25pc of the company’s Rs.825 cr (FY 23) topline; to expand from 33 physical stores to 100 by March 2024, says Head of Brand, Prateek Malpani.
 

Founded in 2016, WakeFit generated revenue of Rs. 825 cr in the financial year 2023. The mattress major’s stated aim for the next year is to be profitable with a Rs.1,100 crore topline. The brand that sold seven lakh mattresses in India in 2022, is also growing in adjacent categories of home solutions.

Prateek Malpani, Head of Brand, Wakefit.co, attributes the revenue growth since launch to the company’s customer-centric approach driven by data. While the pandemic accelerated the shift towards digital channels, he notes that there has been a resurgence in in-store shopping post pandemic – making omnichannel marketing crucial. In the past year, metros and tier 1 markets contributed 55 pc of Wakefit’s revenue, while tier 2 markets accounted for the rest.

“We are confident that this growth will continue in the coming years. We continue to be the largest online mattress player and are aiming to achieve similar growth with our home solution categories,” says Malpani. 

Expanding Portfolio 

While Wakefit started off with sleep-focused products such as mattresses, pillows, bed frames, comforters and back cushions, it eventually forayed into the furniture business. The brand has also introduced new categories including dinnerware and serveware. 

“In 2020, we forayed into the home solutions space with a vision to become India’s most loved home and sleep solutions brand. While we had plans to expand our business, the pandemic only accelerated this process, with consumer preference shifting towards online. Since then, our aim has been to revolutionise the fragmented segments of the home solutions space and create a one-stop-shop for everything home in India. Over the years, we have seen a favourable growth in our home solutions line and today, it contributes to over 25 pc of the overall revenues,” he explains.  

The sleep solutions business still accounts for the majority of revenue, at around 60 to 65 pc, with the remainder coming from accessories. 

Today, Wakefit has over 5,000 SKUs across categories including sofas, rugs, wardrobes, dining tables, furnishings, lighting, decor and more. 

Retail Footprint 

In FY 23, physical stores played a key role in revenue generation, notes Malpani. The brand is set to expand its footprint from the present 33 stores to over 100 by the end of the financial year. More stores are set to come up in Bengaluru, NCR, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune and Jaipur over the next few months.

Touch and feel is critical in the mattress space. But it is tough to attribute shares to specific channels, reasons the brand head. 

“We believe that physical stores play a key role in today's world, as they allow customers to see and touch our products before they buy. In FY 2023, the average order value from our offline channels was nearly twice that of e-commerce. However, online channels offer significant optimisations as well as convenience, and we believe that an optimal blend of both is the future of retail. It is rather hard to attribute the sales to a specific channel because user research journeys and purchase journeys are omnichannel and at Wakefit.co, we look at total sales and distribution cost,” he explains. 

Engaging Content 

The brand has been consistently clutter-breaking in its marketing efforts with initiatives like the Sleep Internship and content like ‘Bhad Mein Jaa 2020’.

Its latest campaign ‘Andar ke bacche ko jaga’ featuring actor Ayushman Khurana underlines the benefit of a good night’s sleep on a Wakefit mattress – it makes the star morph into his energetic younger self.

“We just launched the campaign and the initial traction and feedback, whether it is from the LinkedIn community or on Instagram or in general people talking about it has been very, very encouraging. We are closely monitoring the view through rates as we have deployed the campaign on connected TVs, on YouTube, on Facebook, Instagram. We are seeing above average lifts in our brand as well as above average of view through rates and engagement,” notes Malpani.
 

“Till 2021, we were largely digital and concentrated on the top eight cities. We were very focused. Even over there the major brand awareness was fuelled by these content properties like ‘Bhad Me Jaa’, our partnership with Sumeet Vyas where we did ‘Bartan Dho Liye’ and so on,” explains Malpani.
 

The Sleep Internship 

A much talked about property owned by the brand is the ‘Sleep Internship’.  Who would not want to get paid to sleep? 

“Sleep continues to be an important part of our brand philosophy at Wakefit.co, and the Sleep Internship is a testament to our commitment to raise awareness around the importance of good sleep. With all interns receiving a stipend of Rs.1 lakh and the winner earning a grand prize of up to Rs.10 lakh, the Sleep Internship has experienced remarkable uptake and popularity,” notes Malpani.

Through various activities and workshops that help enhance sleep, the internship is intended to offer participants a hands-on experience to understand the significance of sleep. The programme's interactive nature and its relevance to individual well-being have contributed to its success, reasons the brand head. It garners attention through social media, word of mouth and media coverage. Over the last three years, the programme has received over 10 lakh registrations from across the country, he reveals. 

The brand even launched a campaign that featured Kumbhkaran. These viral content-led marketing campaigns fuelled growth of the brand and business till 2021. 

“However, since March 2022, we have been quite active on ATL and other media as well. We started experimenting on TV. We onboarded our brand ambassador, Rashmika Mandanna, last year because our focus was South. We did one-off print campaigns here and there but a large part of it was digital video, TV and connected TVs,” says Malpani. 

This year, the plan is to again add more media to the mix. He adds, “We are going to go very aggressive on connected TV’s for sure and there are plans to deploy the media spend especially with Ayushmann Khurana on TV and on other media like cinema as well.”

Wakefit’s aim is to become a complete home solutions brand. So while it concentrates its marketing in its quest to become India’s biggest mattress business nationally, it is also focused on increasing its furniture business at the city level where it is opening up stores and establishing an omni-channel presence, explains the spokesperson. 

“WakeFit’s approach to marketing has never been to just talk about features or product. It has always been a slightly higher order benefit of what we are in the business for. So if it is about getting people to sleep, we want to concentrate on the benefit that sleep gives – that is what mattresses are supposed to be working for. Hence, it started off with branding sleep with Sleep Internship; the fact that you can earn money for sleeping. Then getting Kumbhkaran as your spokesperson, which again is the biggest cultural icon when it comes to sleep. Introducing something as innovative as ‘Try for 100 nights’ and if you don’t like it we will take it back. Finally, now, when we are going mass as a mattress business with Ayushmann Khurana. We intend to communicate the fact that if you sleep on a WakeFit mattress, you wake up with childlike energy. Those are the insights related to sleep that we have always managed to communicate,” he surmises.

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