With its unique GelFlex Grid, Purple Innovation is redefining the meaning of a good night’s sleep
The power of sleep cannot be understated; sleep is more than a biological necessity, but rather the foundation for happiness, wellness, and true fulfilment. Promising to deliver less pain and better sleep, Purple Innovation (Purple) offers a range of bedding products and mattresses, leveraging its proprietary GelFlex Grid technology. Compared with traditional mattresses that provide only one aspect of support or pressure relief, Purple’s revolutionary mattresses instantly deliver total comfort and adaptive, all-over pressure relief.
Purple’s GelFlex Grid technology has a reputation for enabling easier, better, and transformative sleep, with 95 percent of customers feeling satisfied with their sleep and reporting an average of a 63 percent reduction in the impact of pain on sleep. The GelFlex Grid contours to each body and draws away heat, and it quickly adapts to absorb motion, equalize pressure, and balance temperature, which eases strain on joints while aligning the spine.
COO, Eric Haynor, joins us to share more about the company’s innovative sleep solutions. “Purple started in 2015 and was initially focused entirely on its e-commerce platform, offering bedding products, pillows, and mattresses, but it quickly grew into an omnichannel operation as we opened retail stores and partnered with wholesalers to grow the business further,” he opens. “By 2019, we were operating across all platforms and had built a strong brand reputation thanks to some clever and humorous online marketing.
“We provide a range of sleep products, such as mattresses, bases, pillows, sheets, and comforters, but most of our revenue comes from mattresses and pillows. Purple offers three unique mattress collections: essential mattresses, an entry-level range that supports the body’s natural alignment; restore hybrid mattresses, to offer targeted relief for shoulders, hips, and knees; and rejuvenate luxe mattresses, which feature a proprietary DreamLayer™ top.”
At the forefront of sleep science, Purple’s GelFlex Grid is what sets the brand’s mattresses apart from others on the market. “All other mattresses are made from some combination of springs, foam, and air, but only Purple has the unique advantage of GelFlex Grid,” Eric says. “The GelFlex Grid offers gel for cooling, flex for comfort, and grid for support. We believe that sleep should relieve pressure and restore us, and that’s why our mattresses are designed to improve sleep by reducing pain and regulating temperature.”
Supply Chains
To achieve superior results, Purple’s supply chain and manufacturing processes must be equally efficient. “All supply chains are measured by a combination of seven key metrics, including safety, quality, service, cost, cashflow, sustainability, and people,” Eric explains. “Building on these metrics, we created a four-step process: decided what we want to be good at, set a benchmark to hold ourselves accountable, built an action plan, and governed our action plan. As a team, we pride ourselves on manufacturing safely, quality, timely, and profitably, and we use the acronym SQTP to ensure we maintain a consistent approach.
“I’m passionate about safety, and one of my goals when I joined Purple was to reduce our Total Recordable Incident Rate (TRIR), a safety metric representing the number of work-related injuries per 100 full-time employees over a 12-month period. In 2021, our TRIR was six, but we’ve improved that score by almost 90 percent to reach a score of 0.6, which is more than five times better than the mattress industry average of 3.3. However, my goal is to have everyone return home safely each day and we’re continuing to reduce our TRIR with a vision to have zero accidents.”
Turning to manufacturing, Eric shares how Purple is embracing automation. “There are two main aspects in terms of our manufacturing process: creating our GelFlex Grid and assembling the products,” he says. “The process of creating our GelFlex Grid is unique and complicated, but we’ve added some automation to our overall operations, mainly around manual handling. We’ve also implemented manufacturing execution systems and robotic extraction systems, and it’s an exciting time as we continue to evolve our manufacturing capabilities.”
On the topic of investment, Eric reveals more details about the company’s latest developments. “Omnichannel businesses must adapt their services to each channel to manage varying expectations, but we’ve dramatically shortened our lead times and improved delivery outcomes across all channels,” he explains. “Our wholesale customers prioritize reliability and partnership, for instance, and we offer a scheduled delivery service to meet these needs. We’ve also reduced our warranty return rates by 33 percent over the last 12 months, and we’re getting consistently positive feedback around our improved service performance.
“Strong relationships with both suppliers and retail partners are also crucial to delivering exceptional service. We’ve done a lot of work to professionalize our supplier management program, diversify our network, and streamline the process of onboarding new suppliers. It’s also important that we work closely with our retail partners and product teams to understand our customers’ challenges and create products that solve the problems they’re experiencing.
“Also, it’s worth noting that Purple’s success would be nothing without our fantastic team of employees,” Eric adds. “I’m so proud of our team, and I can’t say enough about the quality of our people and their ability to get things done. Everyone at Purple works incredibly hard to continuously increase our margins and drive exceptional outcomes.”
Innovation clearly runs through Purple’s core, and with continuous improvements to its products and processes, the company consistently delivers better sleep for its customers. As our conversation ends, Eric turns his attention to the future. “Like many businesses, we’re hoping the macroeconomic indicators that drive our business, such as home sales and interest rates, will turn favorable,” Eric concludes. “In the meantime, we’ll continue to push the boundaries of our technology with a view to developing innovative products that further improve sleep. We’re still a young company, which means there are plenty of opportunities to drive efficiency and find value opportunities across our operations.”