Casper is known for bringing the mattress-buying experience online, but it’s also trying out new approaches to brick-and-mortar retail. In fact, co-founder and CEO Philip Krim said that over the next two months, the startup will be opening pop-up stores in San Francisco, Austin and Washington, D.C.
Krim revealed his plans while on-stage at our Disrupt NY conference — and yes, the interview actually happened yesterday, but I imagine that some of you missed his comments because the event live stream was down. (It’s not my fault, I swear.)
What’s the point of opening up these physical locations? (The company already has showrooms in New York City and Los Angeles.) Well, Krim repeatedly described them as experiments.
“We’re really excited by offline,” Krim said. “We look at this as kind of an experiment to see — could we drive people from a digital engagement to an offline destination? How could we create an experience that was really differentiated and how could we just have fun with it?”
TechCrunch’s Jon Shieber also asked about how the company’s mattresses might evolve, particularly by incorporating more technology. Krim replied that he’s interested in how different devices might connect sleep tracking to “actually influencing and improving how you sleep,” but it sounds like this is still very speculative: “It’s definitely something we like talking about and thinking about.”
Update: You can learn more about the “Snoozebars” here.