Careers at Sleep Number
MISSION
Sleep Number Corporation (“Sleep Number”), formerly Select Comfort Corporation, seeks to make innovative, high quality, and comfortable beds and mattresses to consumers at affordable prices.
FOUNDING STORY
Sleep Number traces its roots back to 1987 and the establishment of Select Comfort Corporation. The Company quickly acquired Comfortaire Corporation, a manufacturer of air-supported sleep systems, which formed the base of its initial business.
In 1992, the company opened its first store in Roseville, Minnesota, and in 1997, the Company opened a manufacturing plant in Irmo, South Carolina.
Sleep Number listed shares on the NASDAQ Global Select Market in 1998 under the ticker symbol AIRB. Following its initial public offering, the Company continued to expand its operations, opening further manufacturing facilities and extending its sales network.
The Company, however, was badly affected by the financial downturn and came close to bankruptcy, but bounced back in the 2010s.
Sleep Number has re-established itself as major player in the bed and mattress market in recent years, thanks in part to innovations under its ‘Know Better Sleep’ campaign.
The Company has received a number of customer satisfaction, innovation, and product awards in recent years. The Company has a current market capitalisation of USD 1.07 billion.
Business model of Sleep Number
Customer Segments
Sleep Number manufactures products aimed at the general consumer populations.
According to its own corporate disclosures, the Company specifically targets customers between the ages of 30 and 54 with an annual household income of more than USD 75,000 or more.
A typical Sleep Number customer cares about their own and their family's health and wellbeing, and know that quality sleep is a key factor in health.
Sleep Number is based in the US, where it serves customers across all 50 states through a network of more than 500 retail outlets.
The Company has a significant presence in California and Texas, which together account for more than 100 outlets. The Company does not appear to have any substantive international operations.
Value Propositions
Sleep Number provides value to its customers in the following ways:
- Reputation and Standing – Sleep Number is an established name in the bed retail market, with a positive track record dating back to the 1980s, instilling trust and comfort in its customer base;
- Personalisation – Sleep Number offers its customers products that are tailored to their specific tastes and needs, ensuring that its customers receive a satisfactory experience, and enables customers to track their personal sleeping habits;
- Comfort and Quality – Sleep Number produces high quality, award winning products that provide customers with support and comfort, and offers its customers with warranty and returns rights to ensure long-term satisfaction;
- Product Range – Sleep Number offers a wide range of products associated with sleep – including mattresses, beds, bedding, and pillows – acting as a one-stop shop for consumers seeking bed and sleep products;
- Research and Innovation – Sleep Number invests a significant portion of its resources into the development of new and innovative products and solutions, ensuring that it is able to remain at the cutting edge of the industry;
- Broad National Sales Reach – Sleep Number has an extensive sales reach across the US, including a network of physical retail outlets across all 50 states and an online sales channel, ensuring that its products are accessible to as broad an audience as possible.
Channels
Sleep Number sells its products to customers directly, primarily through its network of physical retail outlets across the US.
The Company functions as the exclusive retailer and distributor of Sleep Number products; according to its own disclosures, almost 98% of the Company’s net sales are direct to consumers through its own Sleep Number stores, online, or via phone.
As of December 29 2018, Sleep Number operated 579 Sleep Number stores spread across all 50 US states.
In addition to its physical retail outlets, Sleep Number also operates an online store at www.sleepnumber.com, through which its products are available to consumers on a self-service basis. The Company’s online sales are supported by its home delivery and setup service, which includes assembly and mattress removal.
Sleep Number manufactures its products at its U.S. production facilities. This includes production plants located in Irmo, South Carolina, and Salt Lake City, Utah, at which the Company performs the quilting and sewing of the fabric covers for its beds and final assembly and packaging of mattresses and bases.
The Company also operates a single manufacturing plant in Greenville, South Carolina, where it assembles, packages and distributes Comfortaire mattresses and bases.
Customer Relationships
Sleep Number seeks to establish longstanding relationships with its customers. In addition to providing high quality products, the Company offers warranties and support services to ensure that its customers are satisfied with their purchases for a long period of time.
Sleep Number operates an in-house customer service department staffed by teams of specialists that provide service and support via phone, email, live chat, and social media.
The customer service team plays a key role in the Company’s ongoing relationship with customers.
Having direct access to customers also helps the Company to identify insights and emerging trends that help it to improve its product and service quality and advance product innovation.
Sleep Number operates a website at www.sleepnumber.com, through which the Company provides customers with a. wide range of information on a self-service basis, including information on its retail locations, its structure, and its products.
The Company is additionally able to provide information to consumers through its social media channels, including with Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.
Key Activities
Sleep Number, formerly Select Comfort Corporation, is a designer, manufacturer, marketer, retailer and servicer of a line of Sleep Number-branded beds.
The Company offers consumers personalised sleep solutions and services, including a complete line of Sleep Number-branded beds, bases, and bedding accessories, such as pillows. The Company’s beds, its flagship products, offers proprietary technology tracks each individual's sleeping patterns, and are designed to help consumers resolve sleeping issues.
Sleep Number is headquartered in the US, and serves customers across all 50 US states via a large network of stores and an online sales portal.
Key Partners
- Supplier and Vendor Partners, comprising suppliers of equipment and materials used in the Company’s design and production of beds and related products, as well as third party providers of services that support the Company’s corporate activities more broadly;
- Research and Innovation Partners, comprising a range of technology and manufacturing partners that help the Company to design and produce innovative and effective products that set Sleep Number apart from its competitors;
- Sponsorship and Branding Partners, comprising a range of companies and organisations with which the Company collaborates on branding and sponsorship projects with a view to furthering the Sleep Number brand and reputation;
- Connectivity Partners, comprising various other producer of technology products with which the Company’s designs systems by which their respective products can interact; and
- Strategic Partners, comprising various other companies and organisations with which the Company collaborates on business development, marketing, and other projects.
Sleep Number has a number of notable partnerships in place. The Company recently launched a sponsorship partnership with the NFL, becoming the league’s official sleep and wellness partner. It has also launched partnerships with Nest and Bam Labs.
Key Resources
Sleep Number’s business model is dependent on its ability to reliably provide customers with innovative and high quality bed and sleep products.
As such, the Company’s key resources are its intellectual properties and proprietary technologies, its research and development facilities, its manufacturing facilities, its supplies and supply chain, its sales and marketing channels – including its physical retail outlets and its online store, its IT and communications infrastructure, its partnerships, and its personnel.
Sleep Number has a number of patent applications filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office, including applications for ‘inflatable air mattress autofill and off bed pressure adjustment’, ‘inflatable air mattress system architecture’ and ‘diagnostics of bed and bedroom environment’.
The Company also owns and or leases a number of physical properties across the US, including retail outlets and production facilities.
Cost Structure
Sleep Number incurs costs in relation to the design and development of its products, the manufacturing of its products, the procurement of materials and equipment, the procurement of third party services, the operation of its sales outlets – including its online store, the development and maintenance of its IT and communications infrastructure, the payment of salaries and benefits to its personnel, the implementation of marketing and sponsorship campaigns, and the management of its partnerships.
In 2018, Sleep Number recorded annual sales and marketing costs of USD 687.38 million, general and administrative expenses in the amount of USD 119.38 million, and research and development costs totalling USD 28.76 million.
Revenue Streams
Sleep Number generates revenue through the production and sale of beds, mattresses, and other sleep products.
The Company derives its revenue through the collection of sales fees collected from customers at point of sale across its physical retail outlets and its online store.
In 2018, Sleep Number recorded annual sales of 1.53 billion, up on the USD 1.44 billion recorded by the Company in 2017.
Our team
info: Shelly R. Ibach (“Ibach”) has served as President and Chief Executive Officer at Sleep Number since June 2012. She is responsible for leading the Company’s overall strategic direction and for coordinating between the Company’s Board of Directors and its senior executive team. She first joined Sleep Number in April 2007 as Chief Operating Officer. In addition to her role at Sleep Number, Ibach is also Sleep Editor-at-Large for Thrive Global and a member of the Executive Committee at the Minnesota Business Partnership. Ibach is an experienced executive and senior manager in the retail sector, having held a number of senior leadership positions at high-profile companies. She notably served from 2003 to 2004, as Vice President of DMM Textiles, Home Décor, and Confections at Marshall Field’s, and prior to joining Sleep Number, she served from 2004 as Senior Vice President of GMM Home at Macy’s and Marshall Field’s/Target Corporation.
info: Melissa Barra (“Barra”) has served as Senior Vice President, and Chief Strategy and Customer Relationship Officer at Sleep Number since January 2015. In this capacity she is responsible for overseeing enterprise strategy and the company’s customer relationship, including consumer research and data analytics, corporate communications and public relations, and customer service and support. Barra first joined Sleep Number in 2013 as Vice President of Strategy and Consumer Insights. Barra additionally serves as an advisor at Appriss Retail and Antenna. Barra began her career in 1996 at Citi Group, where she served for two years in a corporate finance position. In 1998, she joined Grupo Futuro as Vice President of Corporate Finance, following which she joined Best Buy in 2005, where she held a roles of increasing responsibility, including spells as Senior Director of Corporate Development, Senior Director of Strategic Alliances, Senior Director and Finance Lead for New Business, and Vice President of Finance.
info: David R. Callen (“Callen”) has served as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Sleep Number since joining the Company in April 2014. He is responsible for overseeing the Company’s various financial management operations, including the activities of its accounting, tax, investor relations, and internal audit units. Callen has held a number of senior management positions. From 1998 to 2003 he served as Group Controller at Dentsply International, and from 2003 to 2006 he served as Corporate Controller at Johnson Outdoors. In 2006, he joined Photronics as Vice President of Global Finance, and prior to joining Sleep Number, he served for more than six years as Vice President of Finance and Treasurer at Ethan Allen Inc.