3 ways of differentiating ourselves in the mattress industry.

Hi everyone, ladies and gentlemen, and fellow Singaporeans,

It has been a while since I spoke about our existence to this interesting industry.

Many of my friends and fellow supporters have always asked me this hot burning question, "there are so many competition in this small industry, how would you compare and how can you differentiate from them."

As you all know, Singapore is the easiest place to set up a company, period.

The beauty is to spur people to try out doing something of their own, just like how start-ups are in every country, they are getting a little too commercialized and marketed to a point they are competing with one another on whom is the better marketed and designed item online.

Look at the above paragraph for a while, WHERE IS THE SUBSTANCE OF THE PRODUCT?

1. WHO TALKS ABOUT THE SUBSTANCE OF THE PRODUCT?

2. WHO TALKS ABOUT THE TRUE/REAL EXPERIENCE THAT SOMEONE HAS IN ORDER TO MANUFACTURE THE PRODUCT?

3. WHO ARE THESE BUNCH OF PEOPLE WHOM CLAIM THAT THEY ARE START UPS?

4. WHERE IS THE SUBSTANCE OF THE COMPANY AND WHAT DO THEY REPRESENT?

In Singapore, because we are small, and with the ease of obtaining goods from all over the world, so long as you get a nice running website, and a group of designers, you can easily make a mattress company.

There are a lot of "claimed" to be OEM companies, whom honestly are people whom came out from a big company and set up their own company and decided to start something of their own, but only cheaper then the parent company.

Hence these people are widely available online even on Alibaba, and it doesn't benefit the end product.

So back to the question, how does TILAM KING compare ourselves with these people?

Honestly we do not wish to even be mentioned or compared with those that are new in the market.

Tilam King is a 3 generation family business, that is re-branded by the 3rd generation.

The business model of the business is to allow people understand the ways of how we manufacture, and what we use to manufacture.

The components companies are prestigious and are all global companies, so are our equipment.

We bother to explain all the necessary substance of the product, and not how we market them, or work with some prestigious marketer, and or spend really big money on marketing when our targeted audience are really those that are trying to find something good. Period.

In my personal opinion, if you bother trying to spend so much effort to sell the product, the product already has a fault, where is the confidence of the product???

There you go ladies and gentleman, we answered our burning question on,

"there are so many competition in this small industry, how would you compare and how can you differentiate from them."

1. We are a 3 generation family business, re-branded by the 3rd generation.

2. Our business model is to explain about the product, and how we manufacture them, not all the fanciful nonsense that we do not need in life.

3. The fundamental of the product is strong because all the components and the equipment to make the mattress are all global prestigious companies.

We hope that we have kept this short and sweet for everyone. Making a great product has always been a challenge, if it was easy, why wouldn't all mattress feel the same? 

We made the answers easy but honestly there are a lot of skill set involved in making a simple product, the longevity and fundamental of the foundation of making is still key. 

The Fundamental is PASSION.

The Perfection of Passionate Manufacturing

- Tilam King

The Perfection of Passionate Manufacturing - Half a decade of Passion.

Dear Fellow Singaporeans, Ladies and Gentlemen,

"The Perfection of Passionate Manufacturing"

It had been an awesome 5 years, Half a decade. Seems to me that I just started all these 2 years tops.

In this 5 great years, I started TK, with the mindset of wanting to simplify the complicated mattress industry.

We then created 5 models, (TK Luxury Series, TK Premiere Series, TK Deluxe Series, Ergo Series and Hotel Suite Series).

We allow all our customers to know how we made them, and explained to them about real manufacturing know-hows, and why does it "seemed so complex" about how other brands market themselves.

This idea of being Honest was widely accepted. The idea of sharing Honesty and real insights made people wiser.
Hence we found our PURPOSE.

We now have 5 core values, (Integrity, Pride, Passion, Honesty and Value).

These reflects the way how we wish to operate our business and treat our customers.

Integrity because of how we manufacture our products.

Pride, how we feel about our products.

Passion, help customers to find the right one, not just the expensive one.

Honesty, to educate our consumers to see through all the Jargon to understand us.

Value, keeping prices low, with cheaper alternative to traditional marketing, because we believe good products speak for itself.

We are grateful to all our suppliers that backed us up with great bed frames and accessories to meet our customer needs. We assure you all that we are your best merchant in-terms of upholding reputation and probably the best service a merchant could possibly offer.

We have been very fortunate, we are able to have "the best components" , "the best equipment" to construct and built our awesome mattresses.

"the best components"

We are very lucky, we have BekaertDeslee to supply us beautiful fabrics. And for always remembering us when it comes to stock-lots :P (Stock-lots are awesome items when it is from an awesome company, because TK pays less for a better product :P, some of you might think why TK and not other bigger better companies? That's our magic.)

We got the most prestigious spring factory in China, they make the best possible springs in China, they use all American imported Leggette&Platt equipment "SPUHL" to make my springs. 

Our foam and Latex suppliers, are nothing but Legendary. They are the Unsung Heros, they are the like the Singapore Power to Singapore for uninterrupted power supply, but no ones ever credits them.  I was introduced by my spring supplier to such an incredible young man, we are of the same age. He made all sorts of foam where no one dares to do. #40 Density is the Elite number in our industry. No one except for the major players in the global space will use such high density foam. We have latex from a very beautiful company that specializes in nothing but just 1 product, Natural latex. They are notorious for their high prices, and limited number of SKUs, we are thankful to be able to get hold of them to allow us to have access of high quality natural latex layers for our TK Luxury Series.

This was a beautiful journey to complete. Now TK have all the best components any mattress maker can possibly dream of.

"the best equipment"

After having access to the highest quality components, the only thing that is left is high end machinery. This is very tough to achieve because of the sheer difference in price point for a similar spec-ed sewing head which can only be 2,000rmb and it can go as high as 200,000rmb. 

Imported machines are very limited and have huge premiums over the local ones, which have better after-sales service. However, a great craftsman or a chef can explain to you this, a knife is a knife to a person with no knowledge or expertise or which have no attachment or respect to the industry. But a good knife to a chef is like a life to everything that he prepares. How do I know? We use Porter's Tape masters from the USA to create all our awesome mattresses.

  

Yes, they are the most expensive, and most exclusive.

Our quilting machines are from Gribetz International. They are the finest quilting machine there ever is in this World we live in.

So, we now have the best equipment.

We hope to continue impressing people with our mattresses. We hope to continue this journey of organic growth. To me this is like an experiment. Who would have known that a company with such limited budget with marketing, can reach out so far, so long.

What we hope to continue doing what we truly believe.
We will always make a mattress that we ourselves will use,
we will always sell what we ourselves will use.

This is to maintain our core value and to keep our strength way above the rest, because we are 

Tilam King!!!

To the happy 5, and onward we go towards 10!

Happy Birthday Tilam King.

The Perfection of Passionate Manufacturing

- Tilam King

How to tell the difference between different mattresses? Based on looks and feel? Price?

This is a very difficult task when it comes into a traditional mattress shop, showcasing 20 brands, and over 300 models of mattresses.

Basically they all look like mattresses, some look more simple, some look more complex, but 1 thing surely that sets it apart, is the PRICE.

When you lay down on a simple one (which normally is thinner), it normally feels either very springy, or very firm, price wise, it always reasonably priced at $400 - 5600 depending on brands. As you can see the price range is huge. 

*****But the concept is that, the simpler the design, which normally is thinner, will be very springy, or firm.

Then you shift over to the medium thickness segment, the feel normally feels much more cushioned, hence more comfortable. They are normally priced between $1200 - $8000.

Medium thickness is normally the most popular, people then to buy this range of products because it is neither too firm nor comfy, good balance and also in a range of goods, this is the feel:price ratio which is comfortable for most.

Then now there is the Ultra Luxury segment, where everyone love and dream of owning...

This is the huge WANT segment.

Price range normally starts at $8000 - up to $100,000.

Who ever buys this will never know what they buy, they just do it because they can, and for bragging rights.

So now, we have identified this 3 tiers of Mattresses, and we know that the Ultra Luxury is really not important at all, so it brings down to 2 tiers, which is the basic and luxury range.

How does the term Basic come about?

We mentioned earlier that for the mattress to be springy or firm, the springs (core) will either be very soft or very firm. The core affects the mattress feel significantly because the top layer is thinner. This also means if the core is firmer, the mattress becomes firmer.

How does Luxury mattress differ?

When mattresses all look the same, how do people create a more comfortable mattress? All they do is to add thicker top layers. This is because springs give resistance, and comfort layers give comfort. Therefore, a more comfortable mattress will have more comfort layers on top of the springs.

But still why the huge price range?

Materials play a crucial role in any manufacturing process. There are good manufacturers, and there are those that just sell you a well packaged item that only look good. In this world today, because of competition, the situation forces certain people to do foolish things in order to make some money.

The best example is a usb/iphone charging cable, the box is normally more expensive then the cost of the goods, which is the cable that you need. But you are willing to pay up to $20 more because of a nicer box. The cable may look a little nicer, but the function is the same, it charges the phone and transfers data.

This is a problem even in the Mattress industry. There are way too many companies that do not even know how they get their goods done, where they source their components from, and the fundamental of their believes are wrong. In order to create a good product, you only need good materials. With-in the foam, springs, fabrics, latex, memory foam, etc, there are also quality differences.

Hence every company behind each component must be carefully selected to have an awesome product. If this is done so, the end product cost is way higher then an average one.

But here's the funny thing, in a business world, everyone shouts to say they have the best of everything, as a consumer it is so difficult to even understand what the company or the brand does.

This part is where I let you guys guess, trust your gut, there are too many people saying too many good things about themselves to a point it is almost pointless to even try to listen.

This article is specially created for all consumers to ask credible questions and it is very easy to see if the company respects mattresses or not. Most people end up buying stuff they do not know anyways, but to those that matters, I think the above is very informative for your mattress shopping.

The Perfection of Passionate Manufacturing

- Tilam King