With Sleeping Duck, Winston Wijeyeratne and Selvam Sinnappan have created the perfect example of how the online world is disrupting the retail sector and how those wanting to compete with big businesses need to focus their efforts on bettering their competition’s inadequacies.
After completing their engineering degrees, the two entrepreneurs went on to take part in ANZ’s graduate program. Fueled by the shared frustration associated with big businesses, particularly within the mattress industry, it was there that the pair began forming their business plan.
“A few months after starting work, buying a mattress was high on my list. It was going to be the first time I bought a brand new mattress in my life,” Winston tells Dynamic Business.
“The experience couldn’t have been worse, I tried three or four different stores and from the second I walked into the store I was consistently being pressured into buying.
“They had no logical reason for the enormous price differences in the mattresses, they barely knew what was inside the mattress and, worst of all, they expected me to make a decision after lying on the mattress for 15 minutes.”
Winston and Selvam found many others shared these annoyances, a key factor that led to the creation of Sleeping Duck. An online retailer of high quality and low cost Australian-designed mattress, Sleeping Duck cracked $1 million in sales after only ten months in operation.
“Currently, if you go to the major retailers and you purchase a mattress, you are stuck with it if it doesn’t work out for you. This is where Sleeping Duck comes in,” Winston says. “We do the opposite of what bricks and mortar retailers do.”
Sleeping Duck’s business strategy is decidedly simple, and it’s the simplicity and convenience of their approach that has been the winning factor for consumers.
One point of simplicity that has been turning heads is Sleeping Duck’s range of mattress. Basically, they have one. Winston explains that the company offers “one seriously comfortable mattress,” with multiple choices of firmness, that help customers get a good night’s sleep and awake pain free.
While turning up at a brick and mortar mattress store could see you pushed into buying a mattress after having a quick lie down, Sleeping Duck offers customers the opportunity to try their products for 60 days with the option of returning it if unsatisfied – free of charge.
And, of course, there aren’t any salesmen to deal with.
“We don’t have pushy salesmen. The whole shopping process can be done from the comfort of your own home, without the stressful high-pressure day trip that everyone hates,” Winston says.
Although Sleeping Duck is experiencing rapid growth, Winston says a long period was spent negotiating to initially produce mattresses at a low quantity. Growth inevitably brought challenges.
“To then scale production to large quantities, whilst maintaining high product quality, required us to spend a lot of time on the floor with our partner factory to get things right.”
For the moment, Winston and Selvam are trying not to plan too far ahead. Winston says their biggest priority right now is in building a strong team to help the company grow throughout 2015. The company’s first employees have been hired, now it’s time to ensure they are trained and understand Sleeping Duck’s values.
Winston understands how competitive the online retail industry is becoming, but says businesses just beginning will have a better chance if they place themselves in a unique market position.
“To compete solely in the online space requires a unique market position. If you can find it and have a solid website to back it up, I think you could do well. The industry is still in its growth stages so we will see many more businesses enter over the coming years.”
