Amazon is now selling its own mattresses, and it shows why the industry is worried about the e-commerce giant's growth (AMZN)

pulse

October 1, 2018 7:24 PM

Amazon has debuted its own brand of mattress. It will compete with other major retailers and some of the best sellers on its own site.

The prices start as low as $130 for a twin-size bed.
It means Amazon now competes with the likes of Casper and Tuft & Needle, as well as the many other startups making foam mattresses that are shipped directly to customers in a box.
The new mattress is another example of Amazon creating its own version of a best seller from a third-party merchant on its website.

While Amazon's new mattress doesn't seem complicated, its launch shows why some critics are concerned about the e-commerce giant's business practices.

The mattress, which starts at $130 for a twin size and is made primarily of foam, was released on September 28, as first spotted by TJI Research. It comes in three depths: eight inches, 10 inches, and 12 inches deep. Sizes twin through California king are available.

The move expands Amazon's private-label Basics brand, which sells everything from batteries to doggie bags. AmazonBasics was Amazon's first in-house brand, and it's one of its most developed, with 120 products.Amazon already sold bedding and furniture including bed frames, but this is the first mattress being sold by the company directly.

The move puts Amazon in direct competition with mattress startups, a number of which have launched in recent years. Though Casper arguably started the bed-in-a-box trend with its foam mattresses, dozens of imitators have sprung up due to the low startup costs involved. The market has contracted in recent months, as shown by startup Tuft & Needle merging with Serta Simmons at the end of September. Walmart has developed its own mattress and bedding brand, Allswell, while Target invested $75 million in Casper.

The new mattress also puts Amazon in direct competition with its own third-party partners, however. The current best-selling mattress on Amazon is the Zinus Memory Foam Green Tea Mattress. It's been written up in online publications for years and has been praised for its combination of comfort and low price.

Amazon's new mattresses, however, are several dollars cheaper than the various configurations of the Zinus mattress.

European Union's competition commissioner, Margrethe Vestager,US Sen. Elizabeth Warren

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