‘Consumer centricity is our biggest asset at Wakefit.co’

For some entrepreneurs, business is not just about margins or profits, but it is also about creating unmatched experiences and value for the consumers. These businesses start their journey with the aim to solve a problem and give the customers which no one else can provide. In today’s edition of e4m 'Pride of India Brands 2021' series – a unique collection of top SMBs in the country which are disrupting the market – we feature Wakefit.co, one of the topmost sleep solutions and home decor providers in India. Incepted in 2016, the brand already holds 40% of the market share in the premium, affordable mattresses category and has been growing around 2X in revenues every year.

Telling the inception story of Wakefit and its journey thus far, Co-founder and Director Chaitanya Ramalingegowda shares, “It all started when Ankit (Garg) went out in the market, just before his wedding, to buy a new mattress. He had earlier been working with a German multinational and had a good understanding of foams and their intricacies, so he realised that there was a huge gap in the pricing of all premium mattresses in the market and what would possibly be costing any brand in making them. That’s when he and I researched the market, the possibilities, and how we could provide premium quality mattresses at just prices suitable for the Indian middle class. And that’s how Wakefit was born in 2016.” 

The brand was started as a digital D2C-led company with consumer interest at the core and with its exceptional products became a massive hit. Ramalingegowda proudly boasts, “We made Rs 09 crores in revenue in the first year itself, next year it was 27 crores, then 81 crores and 199 crores, respectively. Just last year, we clocked in 415 crores on the back of our stellar products. Our main focus has remained on delivering good quality products at affordable prices to enable the Indian middle class to have beautiful, aesthetic, and ergonomically-designed homes. They should not be settling for low-quality mattresses just because all the brands are very costly.” 

Ramalingegowda feels that apart from a strong product catalogue, which has now diversified into several other SKUs including bed linen, furniture, recliners, etc, the right marketing strategies have also helped the brand in scaling quickly. 

“When we started, we knew that we don’t have enough money to go big on traditional media like TV or print. But what worked in our favour was that the internet was peaking simultaneously. We could use Google and Facebook for more targeted ads, and use YouTube for our video campaigns. With the increasing proliferation of the internet, we were connecting with the right set of consumers. I would say we were very fortunate in terms of timing as well.” 

Elaborating more on the marketing strategy that they run with, Ramalingegowda highlights that they always wanted to keep the content as the hero of any campaign. “If a consumer is giving us the privilege of their time, we must be able to add value in their lives with our content. So, in all our campaigns, you would see the brand taking a back seat and the content really being the hero. If the consumer feels that we managed to entertain them while teaching something new or adding some value, then they will share the campaign.” 

It is important to mention here that Wakefit, over the past six years, has worked with a bouquet of agency partners including GenY Medium, Spring Marketing Capital, Essence (GroupM), and Logicserve digital. 

On being asked if after several rounds of funding and growth in revenues, has the brand increased its marketing spends, Ramalingegowda replied, “We never see our marketing expenses as a percentage of revenue because, as a startup, we don’t have the right comparables to benchmark it against. Secondly, just because we have got funding, we don’t believe that we need to start throwing it around. We don’t believe in throwing money at problems. We would rather use it in getting more insights into consumer behaviour and curating solutions that could actually benefit consumers. When we find the solution, no one is more aggressive on spending than us. But we would rather spend on creating solutions.” 

He concludes the discussion by elaborating on the key pillars that define their marketing strategies which include the intent and thought processes of the leadership, the voice of the consumers in the forms of reviews & testimonials, and the authenticity of the campaigns. 

Watch the full discussion here: