The mattress that wins customers’ hearts: Ely Mattress

Just a few months in, and the launch of Ely has been welcomed by the public remarkably. We knew we were on to a winning product, but even so, the interest and sales has blown us away and we are truly grateful. So, we take some time out of the founders’ busy schedule to find out about the conception of the Ely mattress and why it is constantly winning customers’ hearts so early on. The Ely mattress hit the market earlier this year and took to the market like a storm, with a flurry of customers wanting to invest in it’s amazing technology and ethos.

In this article, we catch up with the brains behind the Ely technology, Sohail Ifrahim.

First, we look at why the mattress has taken to the market so well:

We believe it has to be because the product uses a proven method of manufacturing using the best materials possible. Trial and error from numerous years allowed the founders to develop an ideal mattress that the masses will love. Ely has had years of knowledge and experience poured into its creation and rigorous study has been done, to find out what ingredients are necessary for quality sleep. Having been in the business of making mattresses of various sizes, quality, materials and feels, for more than a decade, Sohail learnt what made a mattress extremely comfortable, marketable and worth the money you pay for.

Why are people loving the Ely Mattress?

Over forty years of manufacturing various mattresses and our greatest feat, Ely is devised as the mattress that wins hearts. Manufacturing over a million mattresses of different calibre has taught Ely endless lessons.  Ely wants to handcraft mattresses that ensure luxury, health, cost effectiveness and the perfect sleep. The Ely mattress is loved by so many people because:

• Ely is a luxury mattress made from natural materials.
• Ely provides the best comfy nights because the mattress is designed in a way that keeps your spine aligned to help you avoid aches and pains.
• The Ely mattress is healthy and environmentally friendly.
• People often overheat due to foam mattresses having the inability to eradicate heat quickly. To solve this problem, Ely is providing mattresses with pure Dorset wool, horse hair, soft cotton, silk and cashmere which will let your body breathe.  Investing in the right mattress is a need, not a preference.
• We don’t squish the life out of our mattress, by rolling it up into a tiny box – we keep our whole to ensure the ingredients are kept intact.
• We strive to offer the safest, most comfortable and toxic free handcrafted mattress.
• Materials used in our products have been examined and thoroughly tested, to make sure that they do not contain harmful ingredients, vapours, or by-products that could negatively impact human health.
• Ely believes in giving back to Mother Nature and so, we recycle old mattresses without using volatile chemicals, flames, and gases.
• Our customer service has been said to be faultless – we’re a firm believer that happy customers are vital to ensure longevity of our brand.
• We offer a 30-day trial – and we’ve not had a single mattress returned to us, to date!

We now get an insight into Ely from the creator of the mattress:

• Tell us about the main concept behind creating an Ely Mattress Brand? Why is it an elephant?

We wanted to create something fresh, memorable and most importantly a symbol of trust and longevity.  An elephant is one of the greatest animals to exist. Elephants represent comfort, strength, trust, discipline, family, durability, resilience and most importantly the duty of care for others.  We wanted Ely to resonate the same values and instil trust in the hearts of all our customers.

2) What is your most unique selling point – why are you different to your competitors?

Our first unique combination is the ingredients we offer in our mattress combined with the unmatched craftsmanship and the price we are charging.  We believe that everyone deserves the best sleep and more importantly for it to be natural and mindful of health and the environment.  After our extensive research in to the industry, we realized that other companies/organisations are too busy exploiting and overcharging customers for excellent products and limiting their audience to a niche clientele.  This is also the case in other industries such as the vegan or organic industries where prices are extortionate for products that are better for us.  Again, this forces us as consumers to purchase man made, chemically filled products which ultimately affects our health and environment.  Our duty is to ensure everyone can afford the best natural sleep to better their health and lifestyle.  We are also in a privileged position as we manufacture and retail directly which helps us to pass on the savings to our customer as we cut out the middle men.

3) How do you plan to grow the business? What’s your short term and long-term strategy?

Short term objectives – increase brand awareness and instil confidence in consumers that there is a mattress company that cares about their health, environment and their pockets

Long term objectives – achieve brand establishment across the UK initially and then global eventually.  Reshuffle the mattress industry back to the traditional ways but offer the products at a fraction of the price.

4) How do you think ‘sleep’ as an industry has changed over the years?

Sleep has changed drastically over the years.  Technology being on the rise hasn’t helped as we are constantly on our phones/tablets etc.  Almost all bedrooms now have TVs or some sort of device that keeps the brain occupied which then hinders sleep patterns.  Mattress in a box concept has completely changed the game as again just like the food industry, ‘convenience’ has become the highlight but with lasting negative impact on our mind, soul and body.  However, on the positive side these box companies do not have a long “shelf” life and their true colours are now beginning to show as most of their customers have experienced their products for at least two years and have realised that the original mattresses were a lot better and a greater investment as they didn’t have to change them as often.

5) Would you like to expand your range in the future? What would it include?

Ely will certainly be expanding its range soon.  We are looking into offering a vegan mattress option very soon and cannot wait to offer a luxury vegan choice for those who need it. We want to be fully certified organic at some stage. We want to offer a vegan mattress option which is easy to achieve as we just done use the wool.  We will be launching some bed frames and our own baby Ely mattress.  Once we have established these, we would like to offer a complete sleep solution, i.e. duvets/pillows/candles etc

6) What are your customers saying about Ely? Why do you think this is the case?

Our customers are loving Ely as a brand and the product/service.  We believe this is the case because we are honest in what we do and are not cutting any corners.  We put the customers first and keep it simple.  We listen to what they want, and we have ultimately identified a gap in the market and are now a brand that is affordable for almost everyone, whether it’s paying upfront for our products or through our outstanding 0% finance option.  Our finance application only contains 5 or 6 basic questions and it takes no more than 45 seconds to complete and the decision is instant.  Our partner Dividebuy who provide this excellent service will approve at least 97% of applicants.  The only two times they’ll not approve is if you have been bankrupt or have a CCJ.  A proud partner of ours with similar views of making it easy and achievable for all our customers.

7) What is the future of Ely? What do you wish to change for the public with your product? Why will you achieve this?

We want Ely to ultimately be a global brand that stands for health and environment.  If we can be a little part in this world that helps these two things to be sustainable then we have achieved our root objective.  We need to remain confident and believe that we will achieve this and the more we push content out to the audience about environment and health, hopefully we will all play a practical part in this.

To buy the Ely Mattress yourself, head over to our shop page.