Puneet Verma, Country Manager, TEMPUR India, brings with him a strong background in the retail space, coupled with over 13 years of experience. Many a times, Puneet has helped global organizations to turn around their performance benchmarks. Before joining Tempur, Puneet was Vice President at Sports Station. Following his MBA, he joined Levi Strauss and Co. as Area Head, North India. During his 3 year tenure, Puneet was involved in myriad aspects of the company's operations and successfully launched brands such as Dockers and Sykes.
TEMPUR Pedic International, Inc. is a manufacturer and distributor of mattresses and pillows made of open celled visco-elastic, pressure relieving and temperature sensitive material. The company's headquarters are in Lexington, Kentucky. It is the most highly recommended bed in America and is the only brand of mattresses to have earned the Arthritis Foundation's Ease-of-Use Commendation, which recognizes comfort and ease of use for people with arthritis. It has partnered with Springwel Mattresses Pvt. Ltd. with the name TEMPUR to set its foot in India. Through this collaboration it has opened up stores all over India including New Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Chennai, Hyderabad and Gurgaon.
Replying to Anil Mascarenhas of IIFL, Puneet Verma says, “This industry suffers from lack of knowledge at customers end, people do not know how to buy the Right Mattress for themselves.”
What are the interesting trends taking place in the high-end and luxurious mattresses ?
This industry suffers from lack of knowledge at customers end, people do not know how to buy the Right Mattress for themselves….but this trend is changing, as the customers are looking at their mattresses very seriously now. Especially the consumers Tempur is targeting…. They study before coming over on the benefits of using Tempur. With the changing lifestyles, back problems are getting to young generation, so they are looking at right mattress to support their back for 7 hours which they spend on them…..
What are your expansion plans. Which are the cities you are targeting?
We are looking at 25 Tempur store by the 2014. We are already present in Delhi, Gurgaon, Chandigarh, Mumbai, Ahemdabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad. Apart from strengthening our presence in these cities, the other cities on Radar are Kolkata, Pune, Kochi, Vizag.
What is the collaboration with Springwel India Ltd all about?
Springwel has the exclusive distribution rights for Indian market.
Its sounds good to hear about Nasa technology in mattresses. Could you briefly explain what is this science behind this?
Tempur is a temperature sensitive, visco elastic, slow recovery, high density, pressure relieving material. Tempur’s exclusive space technology is recognized by NASA and is been certified by Space Foundation.
What is the size of the Branded Mattress Market in India? What is the share of luxury mattress?
Branded Mattress market is approx $200 million out of which Luxury is about 2-3 %.
What is the rough price differential between a standard branded mattress and a high-end luxury one?
Standard Branded mattress is approx $200-$300 and high end luxury one is approx $3000 plus.
Who is your typical audience?
Our customer would be anyone who is health freak and earning about US$60,000 PA.
What is your vision for the company?
We are looking at educating Indian customer as how important it is to have a good mattress. We almost spend about 1/3rd of our time on the bed and if the mattress is not comfortable then potentially we are adding troubles to our life. Look at in other terms, spending 4 months on a mattress out of 12 months in an year, if are not well spent then we are not sleeping well and if sleep is not good then all the health concerns kicks off, from lack of concentration to back issues and many more.
What are your goals for the coming years?
We are at 8 Tempur standalone stores and 4 Springwel n Tempur store Planet Bliss currently. Our target is to have 25 Tempur standalone and 50 Planet Bliss by year 2014.
Tell us about your distribution network. Comment on your manufacturing.
Springwel is a pioneer in Spring mattresses and has its own manufacturing capacities for mattresses and foam. Springwel has nation-wide presence with 5 regional offices and 30 distributors across 24 states.
What kind of accessories do you offer?
Tempur has Composite Beds to give their customer best comfort along with Pillows to serve any and all purposes, Travel kits, Bed Wedge to support your working/reading on the bed, Neck pillows, Seat cushions, Care comfortor. Springewel offers Pillows, Bed sheet beds etc.