Mattresses appear to be on sale permanently, with a discount available in almost any week of the year. The structure of the category makes that possible and, from the retailer's view, necessary.
Purchase frequency is extremely low
A mattress is replaced perhaps twice a decade, so almost every buyer is approaching the category without recent price knowledge.
Without a remembered reference, the advertised discount becomes the only available guide to whether a price is good.
That gives the reference price enormous influence, because nothing in the shopper's experience contradicts it.
Names differ between retailers by design
Manufacturers supply the same or nearly the same construction under different model names to different chains, a practice long established in the category.
The result is that a shopper cannot look up the identical mattress elsewhere, because the name does not exist outside the shop selling it.
Price matching promises are then largely symbolic, since matching requires an identical product and identical products are deliberately scarce.
Margins are wide enough to absorb the discount
Manufacturing cost for a mattress is a modest fraction of its retail price, which leaves room for a large headline reduction while remaining profitable.
Bulk and delivery cost make the category expensive to hold and move, and the wide margin covers that alongside the discount.
A price cut of a substantial share of the ticket can therefore be offered continuously without threatening the economics of the sale.
Specifications resist comparison
Comfort is subjective, and the objective measures that do exist, such as spring count, foam density and layer thickness, are inconsistently published.
Firmness ratings are set by each manufacturer rather than by a shared standard, so the same word describes different products.
Without comparable specifications the discount becomes the dominant signal by default, which is precisely why it is always present.
Trial periods are more informative than the price
Because comfort cannot be judged in a showroom, the length and terms of a home trial matter more than the headline reduction.
The details are where the value sits: who pays return shipping, whether a minimum period must pass before returning, and whether a refund or an exchange is offered.
Comparing those terms across sellers is possible in a way that comparing the mattresses themselves is not, which makes it the more useful exercise.