1. Introduction to Magic Koil Mattresses
It is important to note that the superior quality that comes with over thirty years of mattress production has been missing in the UK market, primarily due to a lack of focus on providing proven benefits and proper sleeping equipment, allowing personal injury to prevail over unique designs. Magic Koil UK mattress is ready to bring these industry new standards right now. Our international expansion has been characterized by Industry to Industry collaborations, and our goal is to operate in your country utilizing industry-specific standards to clearly communicate the products’ special technical advantages with specific medical community advantages to people. With solid expectations for the coming years, we foresee 10-30% annual growth worldwide providing excellent opportunities for distributors of the brand.
Magic Koil has been delivering mattresses to commercial and residential markets for just over three decades and has developed a very positive international reputation for quality products and the ability to match the expectations of end-users with the expert capabilities of designers and engineers. The approach to the development of every mattress is fascinating and Magic Koil’s mission is the realization of the potential of every mattress as resulting from the demand of every customer. The use of advanced materials and designs, and the implementation of two separate research and development facilities, makes the Magic Koil mattress a universal expectant in the industry as a standard-bearer in multiple categories. Dynamic stockkeeping units, options to choose your comfort according to body composition, choose your thickness according to body preservation, and reasonable costs for every consumer.
1.1. Background and History of Magic Koil
This chapter uniformly deals with the UK, even though Secretlab has found every successful niche in the B2C and B2B segments due to the company’s ability to adjust to different business/retail environments. However, the UK is a stark consumer retail setting trade, given the high expectations of shoppers, for which the UK provides a clear basis for judging the worth of Magic Koil’s capabilities. Information is given about the composition of these further nodes that retail products need to pass until they reach the end customer. The production of a significantly higher number of mattress models in order to challenge the existing players allows products to escape from the takings offered by large incumbent businesses. Magic Koil is a relatively small company, but because its products are consistent and can aggressively manufacture display its information technology to keep them at the forefront of evolving retail preferences. The introduction of innovative strategic changes to apples, weather, and coconut products to the bed causes grave concerns to the already dinosaur mattress-producing entities.
1.1. Background and History of Magic Koil The Secretlab founders began as part-time traders of Magic Koil mattresses, and as such, it is interesting to explore to what extent a small Singaporean company could produce products that could be sold worldwide, including in developed markets. The general perception is that mattresses tend to be overcharged, as they frequently cost less than £50 to manufacture, but high value is added through brand psychology and the science or development of a variety of natural/synthetic materials. This high retail price often means that a few top suppliers dominate the market, so it is an evergreen segment for newcomers to break into, which Magic Koil has reinvigorated.
In this chapter, the general tenets of the UK retail mattress market will be discussed, focusing on historical innovations. Thereafter, an overview will be given of Magic Koil, a Singaporean multinational that entered this market in the early 2010s.
1.2. Key Features and Technologies
The TANATEX® SILK used in Magic Koil mattresses, a type of natural silk protein-based technology, is temperature regulating, hypoallergenic, antibacterial, moisture-wicking, biodegradable, Oekto-Tex Standard 100 Certified, and better for skin and hair. Latex Gel has an open-cell structure that eliminates moisture and heat, so clean and fresh ventilation is constant. It is durable, flexible, comfortable, can be temperature regulated, has an antibacterial and deodorant function, and is able to control the growth of bacteria and inhibit odors from forming. The addition of Tencel maintains the body’s comfort when sleeping.
Some of the latest advanced features that Magic Koil UK includes in their mattresses are TANATEX® SILK, Latex Gel, Tencel, Jaccard Fabric, Thai Swirl Latex, Cool Max, AiroLuxe, Nano Pocket Springs, Sumitex 3D Aero Fabric, SpringLock, and Volute Spring.
Apart from the use of spring systems to achieve comfort, support, and motion isolation, and the trendy design aesthetics of mattresses that often rely on memory foam technology for comfort and to prevent or alleviate pain, technological advancements in other aspects are necessary to secure the peace of mind of the end users and project the brand as a safety and health-conscious one. Provided these advanced features are properly communicated in the brand messaging to the target market and the added costs are value for money for the customers.
2. Market Analysis of Magic Koil in the UK
Magic Koil has entered the UK market three years ago and now due to these amazing mattress specifications that, in addition to the quality-price, has called the attention of a big Portuguese group regarding the potential of their sales. The UK consumers are in search of high-quality products, good price, easy shopping, good guarantee conditions, and, above all, functionality. All these features are part of the Magic Koil mattresses, so the launching of this product into the UK market can be seen as a huge success factor. The market positioning of these mattresses compared to the major brands that commercialize high-end mattresses can be more related to the innovative value of product differentiation at a suitable price than to the ability to compete with lower-priced Chinese and Polish mattresses that are commercialized at much lower prices, even in places where salaries are low. In general, this value comes from the ability to provide enough variety of mattresses that provide different traditional council benefits, such as less back pain or better sleep. The UK consumers have the ability and the potential market and are in divergent states of life regarding the needs, which gives more potential and higher value reference product needed by a significant portion of the population, and these two criteria are essential to enter the country. These entry requirements are not related to other EU countries’ ease of entry, and this is the whole essence of the decisional gap in Europe. The fact that Magic Koil’s mattresses have specific references like “you have never felt so comfortable sleeping” translates directly into the product description and consumer requirement.
The UK retail mattress market has a value of approximately £750 million in 2016 and approximately £20 million was already attributed to online sales for the same year. Mattress sales were at an all-time high in 2017, possibly due to the increasing trend of individuals progressively moving into their own flats or houses with cohabitant partners or actively purchasing online products. The increasing trend of people working from home also had a positive impact on increased sales of mattresses, as well as the increasing number of guests and the increase of B&Bs and Airbnb guests. If we also take into consideration the significantly large municipalities like London, Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Sheffield, Bradford, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Manchester, and Bristol, where millions of employees work, we can understand the importance of this huge market.
2.1. Overview of the Mattress Industry in the UK
The company has grown rapidly by focusing on design, quality, value for money, and speedy delivery. All in all, Magic Koil mattresses, beds, and pillows are progressively becoming the best solution for retailers, hoteliers, interior designers, and end-customers. With steps firmly placed to build and maintain a strong business partnership, Magic Koil stands committed in understanding and addressing the changing needs of the market in the UK.
With varying degrees of excellence, Magic Koil offers open coil spring mattresses, pocketed spring mattresses, memory foam mattresses, roll-up pocketed spring mattress, and roll-up bonnell spring mattress. Their niche in the UK mattress market lies in designing, managing, manufacturing, and delivering a range of unique superior quality products that meet the high standards of UK fire regulations.
With a wide dealer network spread across the UK and Ireland, people can easily test, buy, and benefit from using these mattresses. Available at retail and online stores, Magic Koil mattresses have revolutionised the mattress industry in the UK, offering their customers comfort, quality, price, service, and reliability.
In the UK, mattresses are more than just a place for the residents to lay their heads. It is an essential component that matters and can have a big impact on your daily routine, well-being, and personal comfort. With a plethora of brands available in the market, buyers often get confused and frustrated with the abundance of options available to them. This is where a brand like Magic Koil sets itself apart and comes to the forefront, offering a wide range of choices at a reasonable price.
2.2. Competitive Landscape and Positioning of Magic Koil
It is no surprise that with such a long presence, the company will develop a crossbreed of spring mattresses. The company’s then R&D team replaced the conventional jackets encasing Bonnell and LFK springs with ones made from the bio foam. In this new bi-fold mattress, a soft foam was encased by the bio foam, and the whole structure was finally covered or encased by the traditional tickings. The final product had a luxurious look, was of high quality, sturdiness, and durability, which could withstand the market introduction of Valore II mattresses that directly appealed to prospective mattress buyers with a gross annual income of up to £25,000.
As depicted in Figure 1, forming part of the competitive landscape of mattresses sold in the UK, most of the companies (including Magic Koil) with the exception of IKEA, Hévéaly, Hush, John Lewis & Partners, Siesta, and Simba commenced the production and sale of mattresses in the first half of the twentieth century (1901-1959). Furthermore, in this highly competitive environment, Magic Koil distinguished itself as being the only company with a presence in Asia, Africa, Australasia, and North America. As these continents form part of the third world economies, the company transmitted a unique value proposition that would make it appealing to the poorest person or family.
3. Consumer Perception and Reviews of Magic Koil Mattresses
Magic Koil mattress reviews in the UK range from customers stating they didn’t expect much because of the price and have been pleasantly surprised, to those who emphasize great value for money considering they have paid three or four times as much for less satisfactory mattresses in the past. Good, comfortable, soft, and supportive mattresses, great for preventing and treating back pain and designed for light sleepers are mentioned. And in larger majority, review comments focus on the cons, such as the coils or springs, the mattress being as hard as the floor, poor quality, and, amongst other issues, being too soft or receiving the wrong mattress or having warranty problems. Many Magic Koil mattresses are available from small, independent, dedicated mattress shops in the UK selling a variety of brands, and others from online resellers. However, direct customer reviews aren’t as plentiful and enthusiastic as the latter. One quietly 5-star rated mattress is described as soft and comfortable with an all-night sleep, but no elaboration is given and the reviewer had only been sleeping in it for ten days at the time of the review. Another is strongly recommended as very comfortable and supportive, but also sounds like it was only a couple of months old at most, because the comment includes a written appraisal of both the durable, good quality, very comfortable mattress as well as advice and information warning people not to buy it if they don’t want a cheap mattress that only lasts six months.
3.1. Understanding Customer Preferences and Needs
The changed topper and mattress question specifies the type of back issue and the response is listed in their completion order. When the number of responses reaches a significant number, they will be grouped by condition and the following analysis will be undertaken to determine if this is reasonable when it is applicable. For each back problem identified in the Constanalytics Health Reference Services, insights into possible customer needs will be sought. They can include what helps the back problem, their dimensions, features that are enjoyed or that still cause discomfort and that would ideally be removed from their mattress or mattress topper.
This raises the question of identifying the preferred features of people who have back problems and have changed their mattress or topper to help their condition. Data on what helps different types of back problems is included in the introduction to the Health Reference Services. The initial data analysis that has been undertaken in relation to understanding what the preferences of individuals who have changed their mattress or mattress topper to improve their condition is. This initial analysis suggests that preferences differ by issue, which is in disagreement with responses to previous data that suggested that people with back issues will all want firm support unless they are both tall and of a large frame.
3.2. Analysis of Online and Offline Reviews
Overall, after scraping and processing the online comments, four well-labelled product attributes of the mattress could be identified, which include firmness, comfort, durability, and value for money. However, the online collection strategy demonstrated limitations in matching the offline in-store kiosk data collection strategy. Although some differences exist and label noise is experienced, product quality data would still be collected. Finally, the benefits of the dual semi-automatic labeling technique were expressed by comparing the performance of the obtained labeled dataset with existing publicly available labeled review datasets. In evaluating customer satisfaction to ensure customer trust and to better understand market transaction problems, we analyze Magic Koil mattress product performance because we consider that market analyses can offer insights into the real economy.
To evaluate customer satisfaction regarding the comfort and firmness of various mattress brands, both online and offline data collection approaches were employed. Currently, retail channels have become the chief source of product interaction for consumers, with in-store kiosks and after-sale communication seeking customer satisfaction reviews. This simple study was implemented by seeking after-sale review labels using an after-sale review collection module in partnership with a traditional brick-and-mortar outlet that makes use of the brand as Magic Koil products that were purchased or marketed online. To avoid potential ranking influences of reviewers, data collection was done on the purchase of the mattresses online. After collecting and scraping the data reviews available online, offline labels were acquired from kiosk after-sales reviews of the pillows, beds, and mattresses shared by the same consumers in the UK’s Magic Koil flagship store.
4. Innovative Product Offerings by Magic Koil
Magic Koil offers the UK market a unique and innovative series that has successfully supported strong growth for the company in Singapore and several other UK’s export markets. While manufacturing excellence is vitally important to the production of mattresses, it is the R&D team and the innovation of the company’s product range, which sets it apart in this very competitive market. Magic Koil has an exemplary relationship with its suppliers and its dealer and distribution partners. This close relationship is mutually beneficial and is an example of the strength of the company’s policies and business ethics. The team has taken very well-proven product designs or market niches and created specialized products to secure a unique market position. All products are supported with clear and thoughtful advertising and POP material.
The relentless innovation and focus on the customer have been the cornerstone of Magic Koil’s industry-dominating product range. Today, Magic Koil’s product range covers the whole range of support solutions from spring to foam. A series of long and unique coiled mattresses offer unique comfort solutions in the industry. The Iborysim series uses soybean extracts, which is especially healthy for children. Magic Koil has combined these natural ingredients with special technology for the bamboo fabric cover. Bamboo is known to be more hygienic compared to cotton, and it is also antimicrobial, repelling bedbugs and dust mites. All of the outer fabric of the Iborysim series also applies the specialist technology. The comfort fiber made of soybean extracts is covered with an antimicrobial and hypoallergenic fabric.
4.1. Magic Koil Storage Bundle: Features and Benefits
A bundle consists of 2 pieces of multipurpose full-extension drawers with bone assembly system and 1 piece of middle beam. The item description includes compatibility with a bed frame without a headboard, such as the Silverado Compact Storage Divan with Ernest M7 Bed Frame Headboard and the Victorian Faux Leather Compact Storage Divan with Ernest M7 Bed Frame Headboard. It allows for the self-assembly of the headboard and the headboard color can match the mattress fabric. It is suitable for the Impact Series Deep Storage Divan sets with a box hinge drawer feature for easy opening, closing, and to support heavy occupants. It is also suitable for the Superior Comfort Collection Divan set with a woman on lady spring mattress. The 4″ wheeled drawer or the 8″ magnetic safety stop drawer provides a sleek modern look. It is also suitable for any other mattress brands that fit within the size dimensions and offer large storage space without headboards. It is perfect for use in a children’s bedroom with no clearance for a bed frame, for any bed size, as long as the compatible Magic Koil Storage Bundle is allowed. It is durable and very sturdy. It is an attractive guest bed option for your mattress at any height! Without assembly, the stand-alone drawer can be situated anywhere indoors to store your daily essentials. These compact, full-extension drawers come with a high bone assembly system for durability, easy glide roller wheels, and elegant silver trim fronts that complement the matt melamine finishes on the drawer. They embody practicality and a streamlined design philosophy. The multi-purpose adjustable encasements protect the drawers from dust, provide support, and can also be enclosed into any old bed frame. They are easy to assemble, making it easy to maneuver the drawers through tight corridors, floors, hallways, spaces, or landings. No tools are required to assemble. Made in Italy.
If you need to replace a divan base or drawer storage, why not go for the Magic Koil Storage Bundle – an instant guest storage solution. It is a quick and attractive option that provides invisible guest storage. It is also a storage solution that accompanies bed frames from our BC, JI, CS, LE M7, and Encore collections. It is compatible with our Superior Comfort or Impact series, as well as other mattress brands with the same size dimensions, without headboards. It comes in 4″ (10 cm) or 8″ (20 cm) thickness. It is easy to assemble and allows for easy maneuvering through tight corridor spaces or landings. No tools are required! These sturdy drawers can stand alone and be placed beside our bed frames. They come with multi-purpose adjustable encasements that can also be enclosed on old bed frames.
4.2. Magic Koil Twin Bed: Design and Functionality
The Magic Koil twin bed have been designed on a similar premise as the larger mattresses, but with a few added features that reflect their intended usage. Similar to the larger Magic Koil mattresses, the beds are rolled and compressed in the same way. The packaging consists of a stretch-fit plastic to hold the rolled unit in place. Once the bottom is encapsulated, the top of the twin mattress is fitted with a long rectangular trench for holding a metal tool that can pull the entire package into its final square shape. The sides are then temporarily stapled to screen boards that fit the sides while the bed is compressed. The adhesive is poured on the sides of the mattress at that time before the screen boards are removed. The twin mattress is then compressed and strapped as described in the process for the larger mattress. The final opening station is similarly equipped for the twin opening process.
5. Conclusion and Future Prospects
The objective of the thesis was therefore to contribute to knowledge of the mattress industry by conducting in-depth interviews with Magic Koil executives on the company’s recent entry into the UK market. The product of these interviews has drawn on theories including experiential positioning, market entry strategies, and economic protectionism to shed light on how Magic Koil has sought to position its products through a blend of marketing strategies ranging from exclusivity agreements and vertical integration, environmental influences such as a shift in consumer tastes from traditional to contemporary designs, and also the growing emphasis on consumer wellness. The empirical findings are unique and contribute to a deficiency in the literature focused on the mattress industry.
This final chapter has sought to investigate Magic Koil mattresses in the context of their UK introduction. The positioning of Magic Koil in the UK market has been found to adapt a number of well-established marketing and strategy models to assist in understanding Magic Koil’s unique response. The significance of these findings lies in the paucity of academic study of the mattress industry in general and particularly from an international market entry perspective. The strategic management literature relating to services and to the consumer goods industries lacks key elements of contextualization found in this chapter and mirrors the general neglect of the mattress industry more generally.
5.1. Summary of Findings
The build-up of strong and reliable contacts through effective social interaction with partners had been key to communication, resulting in a series of business, management, social, and economic benefits and contributions. The research and knowledge transfer between the two companies has been characterized by “a desire to find innovative, cost-effective, and continuous product improvement.” Products and strategies appear to have generated a real competitive advantage for Magic Koil. The secrets to the competitive success and ability to create this product lay not only in the economic operations of Magic Koil but also in the innovativeness of the business relationships. The case provides a snapshot of innovation between an Asian mattress manufacturer and an institutional UK business.
This study qualitatively explores the innovation and impact of Magic Koil mattresses within the UK market. The business transfer case is used to structure the report, which involves four broad components: i) context, concept, and transfer of knowledge; ii) transfer methodology; iii) knowledge exchange and impact deliverables; and iv) implementation, evaluation, and conclusion. From Magic Koil’s entry into the UK market to its recent expansion, and their knowledge of the technology and competitive environment of the UK, it was clear that Magic Koil would need to adapt their product and marketing strategies to make an impact. The new product involved a new type of foam and a latex mattress core, new materials, product development, manufacturing, and testing.
5.2. Potential Growth Opportunities in the UK Market
The company’s past series of marketing events in the Hertfordshire and Essex areas demonstrated that favorable preferences for the Magic Koil brand are high while its popularity is rising rapidly. Major department stores such as Fenwicks and Harveys offer Magic Koil products, and the former is running healthy sales volumes. In Harveys, Magic Koil mattresses and divan beds are positioned at a relatively high price level and are selling at good rates. The product recognition of Magic Koil divan beds and mattresses, particularly in the £399 to £3,000 range, is expected to instill healthy competition in the respective market segments. The central geographic location makes Wembley a good selection for a Magic Koil showroom, and although there are other existing showrooms in other counties and around London, a Magic Koil Company-owned showroom will offer unmatched quality and value. Such a showroom is also expected to boost sales by 20 percent in the segments where Magic Koil products need to become more recognized. Although a combined network of 20 specialized Magic Koil showrooms and concessions in major department stores by 2013 are targeted, these showrooms are expected to have sales volumes of up to four times the average as they will retail the existing Magic Koil 300 and Magic Koil 6000 mattresses and divan beds.
