Author: Gang Ma, special commentator of New Retail Business Review
Humanity seems to be in a new stage of "acceleration" of technology, and on the other hand, the wind of "metaverse" is setting off a craze , the other side is the endless emergence of smart products.
This is indeed the reality. After evolution in recent years, smart products have fully penetrated into the public’s daily life. Products that are more convenient, faster, more comfortable and smarter are widely used. Favored by consumers.
Among them, smart mattresses have become a hot topic by virtue of satisfying various rigid needs. Whether it is the Chinese market or the international market, smart mattresses are popular.
However, the "cruel" thing is that according to media reports, some domestic smart mattresses are priced around a thousand yuan, while high-end international brand smart mattresses are priced at around 1,000 yuan. has reached 90,000 yuan. The media pointed out that "the price difference between the initial entry-level products and high-end products is close to 90 times."
Why can’t China’s smart mattresses be sold? The gap between "junior" and "high-end" deserves in-depth discussion.
Whether Chinese smart mattresses or international smart mattresses, their rapid development is the result of efforts to meet the urgent needs of consumers.
First of all, no one doesn’t want to have a good night’s sleep, and people who suffer from sleep problems also need to spend money to “buy a good night’s sleep”. This is the underlying logic of the sleep economy.
In China, the sleep economy is growing rapidly. The "2020 China Sleep Economy Industry Short Report" released by the Internet business consulting platform Toubao Research Institute shows that the size of my country's sleep economy market exceeded 260 billion yuan in 2020, and is expected to exceed 500 billion yuan in 2024.
After this huge market is "implemented" into subdivided areas, the consumption amount of pillows, mattresses, sleep-aid aromatherapy lamps and other equipment and supplies The contribution is relatively large, accounting for about 70%.
Under the strong overall demand, AI has helped smart mattresses expand and capture more demand.
The biggest difference from traditional mattresses is that smart mattresses can analyze human body data such as body shape and sleeping posture, automatically intervene and adjust, and calculate the current sleeping position of the human body. The optimal pressure distribution and bed height required under the posture, thereby creating high-quality deep sleep for users.
In other words, AI is the biggest selling point of smart mattresses.
Take the domestic 8H smart AI sleep aid mattress as an example, which can detect sleeping postures and intelligently link with the sleep environment, "intelligently linking lights, air conditioners, curtains, etc." In order to detect sleep conditions, this smart mattress has 2048 high-precision pressure sensors built in. During sleep, vital signs caused by body pressure changes will be collected and recorded to help users adjust their sleep status.
Another BeiKr smart massage sleep aid mattress assists sleep in stages, providing users with relaxation aids before bed, temperature control to keep warm during sleep, and early wake-up. Gentle wake-up and other functions.
The huge market of the sleep economy not only attracts mattress production brands to intervene, but also technology giants have begun to make arrangements.
For example, in March this year, Apple disclosed a patent for a smart mattress that can place a device on the mattress to serve as the user's alarm clock or relaxation device.
In terms of actual use, this device can provide users with a gentle, noiseless wake-up function. It can also be combined with a snoring detection system to automatically provide tactile feedback to the user. Gently wake him up when he snores for a long time.
Regarding Apple’s patent, the media directly called it “unconventional”, and netizens also got their imaginations flowing.
A netizen nicknamed MacPro commented: "Facebook and Google will come over soon to plagiarize, record your dreams and sell them." Another One netizen "relayed" and said: "No, they will only insert advertisements in your dreams."
Recording dreams and inserting advertisements into dreams is full of science fiction, although it is only Ridiculous, but it also greatly stimulated the public's imagination about smart mattresses.
It should be noted that when the power of AI plays a powerful role in the field of smart mattresses, the target is not necessarily human sleep.
As early as 2016, media reported that a Spanish mattress manufacturer produced a mattress with 24 built-in ultrasonic sensors that can detect suspicious movements on the bed. Behavior, and notify the user through the smart phone client program to achieve "intelligent catching of adultery".
The reason why Spain has such a "magic mattress" is because survey data from extramarital affairs websites show that Madridites have an extremely high cheating rate.
In addition to monitoring infidelity, it meets another need and can "save lives".
As various rigid needs are discovered and satisfied, the market scale of smart mattresses will continue to expand, and the market size of smart mattresses will continue to expand. The functional requirements of AI will also become higher and higher.
When smart mattresses enter the consumption scene, the first thing people perceive is often the price.
In 2020, a confinement center in Beijing Guomao caused heated discussions among netizens because it cost 1.6 million yuan for one month of confinement.
The blogger who visited the confinement center first noticed the bedding in the confinement center: pillowcases cost 800 yuan, quilt covers 5,000 yuan, sheets 5,000 yuan, and mattresses 50,000 yuan.
In comparison, it is easy to think that 50,000 yuan has hit the "ceiling" of mattress prices. From a domestic perspective, this is indeed the case. Media survey data shows that my country’s smart mattress products cover three levels: high, medium and low. The market price range is large, mainly between 2,000 and 50,000 yuan.
In other words, if the luxury confinement center uses domestic smart mattresses, the price is considered "top price". However, if placed in the international smart mattress price system, 50,000 yuan can only be regarded as a "middle level".
For example, the smart mattress products of the American high-end brand Serta are sold on Chinese e-commerce platforms for between 20,000 and 90,000 yuan.
The “ultra-low price” of domestic smart mattresses makes the prices of high-end brands “unattainable”. In fact, some domestic smart mattresses are priced as low as a thousand yuan.
The question is, why are there no international "players" in China's smart mattress market?
An obvious reason is that international "players" entered the game earlier, and the brand influence of smart mattresses is greater and the market performance is stronger.
Among them, Serta has a history of 90 years since its establishment. In 2011, it launched the high-tech sleep iComfort series mattresses, making it one of the leaders in smart sleep. The development process , the brand influence gradually overflowed from the United States and eventually radiated to the world.
In addition to brands, generally speaking, the sponge, latex, spring and other raw materials used in mattresses have different grades, raw material procurement selection, production technology, import costs, operating costs etc., will all affect the price.
Among these, the most important thing is undoubtedly the smart component.
Industry insiders told the media: “The cost of smart components accounts for about 20% of the total production cost of smart mattresses, including the two core components of sensors and chips. The accuracy and stability of sensors and chips directly determine the quality of smart mattress products, so the bargaining power in the industry chain is high."
This statement is supported by domestic smart beds. Pad manufacturer's approval. Zhilian Lejia is a company that focuses on developing home Internet of Things-related products. Its product manager revealed that making better products requires chips with stronger computing power and data analysis capabilities.
The product manager said: "Because our mattress monitors the user's deep sleep duration, light sleep duration, breathing frequency, turning frequency and other data to monitor their sleep. Sleep status, the calculation and analysis of these data need to be carried out through self-developed chips and algorithms, and after the detection and statistics are calculated, we must go through big data calculations to give customers an intuitive data feedback, so we use chips. The requirements will be relatively high."
From this perspective, the chip performance can be called a "watershed" in the price of smart mattresses.
The influence of domestic smart mattress brands is relatively weak, and the chip performance does not have much advantage. It is not difficult to understand that the high-end market is controlled by international "players".
Regarding the future development of smart mattresses, the media summarized two paths.
One is to sell smart mattresses as "sugar" to provide users with a better sleep experience and satisfy the new generation of consumers' sense of technology, comfort and Entertainment needs.
For example, there are smart mattresses equipped with smart speakers, smart voice and other entertainment functions, trying to immerse users in it like "eating candy".
In this regard, some media believe that how to dig deeper into "big health + big data" and conduct data linkage with other smart home products will become an important part of the development of smart mattresses. ring.
The other is to sell smart mattresses as "medicine" to truly penetrate into the user's psychology and solve sleep problems, "even create more new ones in the sleep scene." value”.
Regarding this point, Yao Jiqing, president of the Mousse Group, once publicly stated: "Across the world, 30% of people have sleep disorders. In China, this figure reaches 38 %. According to surveys, this figure reaches 50%. ”
In Yao Jiqing’s view, To achieve a great brand, "it is necessary to understand the needs of the times and solve major social problems."
In fact, whether you regard smart mattresses as "sugar" or "medicine", the fundamental problem is whether smart mattresses can Can't get a more convenient and effective intelligent experience, which can effectively help users achieve comfortable and sound sleep.
In reality, as analysts have pointed out, the problem with most smart mattresses at this stage is the lack of development of sleep care and smart adjustment functions, which has led to smart mattress products falling into A situation of "only monitoring, few plans or even no plans".
Because of this, only by breaking this embarrassment can the consumption potential of smart mattresses be fully activated. Furthermore, the core of smart mattresses, namely AI technology, still needs to evolve.
As analysts predicted: “In the future, smart mattress products will gradually have the functions of autonomous learning and autonomous service.
”
In other words, only smart mattresses have evolved to the level of autonomous learning and autonomous service, and can provide immediate and effective solutions to various situations during users’ sleep, so that Only when a good night's sleep and enjoying a smart life become a reality can the value of this industry be maximized.
Of course, on the road to becoming increasingly intelligent, the future of smart mattresses is not stable. Exclusively for international "players", domestic brands also have opportunities - if they can delve into technology, focus on research and development, and narrow or even close the price difference of about 90 times, a "sharp weapon" may be born.
Reference materials:
1. "Will you try the smart mattress with a price difference of 90 times that is popular in the sleep economy?", New Express
2. "Apple releases smart bed Pad patent to achieve non-sensory wake-up", Qianzhan.com
3. "Xiaomi is ready to "harvest" this market with 90% gross profit", Geek Park
4. " How can Chinese brands become high-end? Here is a reference answer, Outlook
Today’s topic: Will you choose domestic smart mattresses?