'Sleep has become a sexy industry': How I built a bedding business with a dreamy turnover from my spare room - and started it with a £100 website
- Charlie Hunt set up Soak & Sleep in 2008 and saw bumper sales last year
- He says it typically undercuts competitors by between 10-50%
- The business has former M&S boss Stuart Rose as chairman
Charlie Hunt started his business with just £100 in his spare room back in 2006. Now the business sells directly on Amazon in the UK and Europe
Sleep is big business: we spend roughly a third of our lives tucked up in bed and many people are now investing more of their hard-earned cash to make it is a comfy as possible.
This includes mattresses delivered to the door, tracking sleep with wearable gadgets and cloud-like bedding.
One business that appears to be capitalising on the trend is Soak & Sleep.
Set up by Charlie Hunt, 49, in 2008 from his spare room with a £100 website, the small bedding business has gone from strength-to-strength.
It even managed to hook retail veteran Stuart Rose, 70, as chairman five years ago when the company was known as Duvet & Pillow Warehouse.
Rose is synonymous with high street retail giant Marks & Spencer.
In the last financial year, Soak & Sleep says it turned over £11.4million and now employs a team of 27 from its headquarters in Surrey.
Amazon partnership has driven sales
Hunt puts much of the success of the business down to selling through Amazon directly and the company's ambitions to become the Asos of the bed and bath market.
The business changed its name following Hunt's plans to expand the project range beyond bedding and into bathroom accessories.
He says: 'As we continued in our quest to be the Asos for the bed and bath market, it seemed more fitting to have a name that encompassed the full range of introduced soaps, smellies, perfumes and our gift department.'
Off his success through Amazon, Hunt says: 'Amazon is a juggernaut and we tested it two years ago.
'For a small medium enterprise like us it gave us a reach into market places where we couldn't get into ourselves.
'We have been able to a launch across Europe in 2019 and 50 per cent of business comes from mainland countries like Germany France Italy and Spain.
'We don't have the infrastructure for that on our website and to use Amazon makes this possible.'
At a time where retailers are struggling to keep their doors open on the high street, Hunt maintains he's had his most successful year thanks to direct sales via Amazon.
Sexy sleep? Hunt says sleep has become a sexy industry that a lot of people talk about
Differentiating through quality of product, service and price has also become vital to the business.
Soak & Sleep says it typically undercuts its competitors, such as John Lewis and The White Company, by 10 to 50 per cent.
Hunt describes the business as a leading online bedding and bath retailer. He says the unique selling point for the business is that they handpick bedding items instead of selling a vast range of products for customers to choose from.
'We work with trusted suppliers around the world who we have long standing relationships with so can negotiate the best deals with them. We also trust the quality they provide.
'As a result we are able to produce excellent quality products at a fraction of the price of our competitors.'
He cites his Mulberry silk pillow cases as an example.
He says: 'They are consistently cheaper than almost anybody else out there but being made with Mulberry silk are of the highest quality thread you can buy.'
He's also particular about providing customers with products that last the distance to the extent that the company provides customers with advice on how to launder the bedding to ensure longevity.
Hunt explains: 'We make our products to last because this is also important to our customers and is a more sustainable way of shopping.
'This means we place emphasis on buying top quality fabrics and ensure through our product testing that colours hold fast.'
The business' name was changed from Duvet & Pillow Warehouse to 'Soak & Sleep' following Hunt's plans to expand the project range beyond bedding and into bathroom products
The economy of sleep
The timing of this type of online business in the current market could not be better.
Sleep, is after all big business these days, particularly as consumers have become obsessed by measuring it.
They're keen to know not just how long they've been asleep for but are now increasingly aware of the importance of quality of sleep, catapulted by wearable technology that enables consumers to track their sleeping patterns.
Hunt says: 'Sleep has become a sexy industry and everyone is talking about it. We feel we are at the core of that.
'What we've founded in the [just over] ten years we've been around that we've built the best knowledge in sleep of any retailer as we specialise in great sleep solutions.
'With all the smart watches and sleep products it tells you the quality of sleep and people are becoming more aware of deficiency in quality sleep.
'I have found in sleep trackers I haven't had the right amount of sleep either. I force this now and my quality of life has improved.'
Soak & Sleep also benefits from the increased trend to buying bedding online.
According to the National Bed Federation 51 per cent of purchases were made online, compared to 47 per cent in store.
It was also determined that online buying of mattresses was not confined to one age group. The NBF found that over 55s were just as comfortable buying direct as other age groups.
Challenges of entrepreneurship
His entrepreneurial experiences haven't always been easy. His first business venture was a bedding brand called Peacock Blue - but that was eventually sold after he racked up a £500,000 debt.
The business was scuppered by a postal strike which prevented him from sending his bedding catalogue out in time one Christmas.
Understandably, his shaky start in entrepreneurship is not something Hunt wants to delve into detail about.
He says that it was predominantly a catalogue company that also had a flagship store in New Kings Road, London, which was sold in 2006.
Hunt says that providing advice on the best sleep products has become core to the business.
He more readily talks about some difficulties experienced in the early days of Soak & Sleep.
He said: 'The major challenges were cash flow as is always the case with small businesses and finding and carving out our niche in a fairly busy marketplace.'
'We feel like now we understand who we are, what makes us different to everybody else out there, who our customers are and what they want from us.'
Hunt is not the only contributor to the success of Soak & Sleep. He owns 70 per cent of the business, while Rose and other shareholders own the rest.
He's reserved about expanding on Rose's input but explains that the businessman's reason for coming on board is that he saw something in the company that he knew he could help steer and guide.
'I went into this with a very clear idea of where I wanted my business to grow to and where I wanted Soak & Sleep to be.
'Stuart was able to use his expertise to implement a clear plan that made the projected trajectory a reality.'
What's his advice to others considering their own start ups? He says: 'The old adage that has done me well is never ever give up. You will never have a straight journey to success.
'Some of the downs will seem impossible to get through but if you are resilient you will gain a great business.'
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