- Wakefit's entry-level mattress priced at Rs 3,839 is competitively lower than Kurlon's Rs 4,571
- Sheela Foam operates in 5,000+ towns with 11,000 dealers, while Wakefit covers 701 towns
- Wakefit focuses on CoCo stores and online sales, unlike peers relying on multi-brand outlets
An entry-level, dual comfort foam single bed mattress — arguably the ideal and most feasible model for a broke college student — costs somewhere between Rs 3,500 and Rs 5,000.
Wakefit Innovations Ltd.'s DreamPod Medium Firm HR Foam Mattress is priced at Rs 3,839, while rival Kurlon (operated by Sheela Foam Ltd.) sells the equivalent model at Rs 4,571. The price difference in range may not be exceptionally stark, but Nomura thinks Wakefit's positioning in the Indian market makes it significant.
Sheela Foam, the operator of popular brands like Sleepwell, Kurlon, Furlenco among others, has its presence across over 5,000 towns and more than 24 states.
The company, which is probably Wakefit's most prominent rival, operates through multiple avenues such as multi-brand outlets (MBOs), exclusive brand outlets, and company owned company operated (CoCo) stores. It has over 11,000 dealer touch points and more than 230 distributors.
In comparison, Wakefit's presence in 701 towns across 22 states solely through MBOs and CoCos make up only a fraction of Sheela. Despite this, the company's value market share of 8.4%, make Sheela Foam's 13.8% look rather achievable.
ALSO READ: India's Consumption Shift Is Going Premium. Investors Hunt For The Next Multibaggers
"Wakefit mainly operates through its company owned company operated (CoCo) stores and Online (Ecommerce+Website) channel whereas its peers mainly operate through MBOs," the brokerage said.
The company's presence is well distributed across all regions of the country, unlike its rivals which broadly remain concentrated in the North and South.
"It is also geographically quite well diversified with product portfolio focused across B2C products only, compared to technical and B2B foam of peers," Nomura noted.
On the financials front, even as absolutes remain skewed in favour of the Kurlon-operator (Rs 1,497 crore revenue for FY26), Wakefit has delivered a 17% year-on-year surge in its topline to Rs 913 crore, as against a 9% rise in Sheela Foam's revenue indicating a faster growth rate.
It outshone peers on the operational front, after clocking higher gross margin and Ebitda margins at 55.8% and 12.2% respectively in FY26. For comparison, Sheela Foam's gross margins stood at 42.9% while Ebitda margin came in at 10% in the previous fiscal.
"Wakefit has delivered superior revenue growth compared to peers, according to our analysis. With stronger scale and operating leverage, we expect the improvement trajectory to continue," Nomura highlighted.
It added that, despite a decrease in ads and promotion expenses (from Rs 96 crore in FY25 to Rs 84 crore in FY26), Wakefit has enjoyed healthy topline growth, contributing to margin improvements.
Wakefit May Build Mattresses, But It Is Not Dozing Off On Its Furniture
Profitability has been a difficult tree to climb even for the likes of IKEA India and Pepperfry, who have incurred net losses and remained Ebitda negative for five fiscals straight till FY25.
"Most players have seen a slowdown in growth over the past few years. Profitability has remained a significant challenge, impacted either by lower gross margins or higher rents/overhead costs," Nomura underscored, adding that Wakefit enjoys a greater advantage over its peers owing to its better unit economic, varied product mix and operating leverage.
Essential Business Intelligence, Sharp Market Insights, Practical Personal Finance Advice, Daily Fuel, Gold and Silver Prices and Latest Stories — On NDTV Profit.
