Duroflex’s Ullas Vijay on retail increasingly becoming a brand-building medium

Once a largely functional, low-involvement category dominated by conversations around foam layers and pricing, sleep as a category is today being reframed around wellness, recovery, and increasingly, stress. For brands, this shift is also changing how they operate. Brands are now looking beyond just selling mattresses and focussing on immersive, experience-led journeys. Duroflex is one case in point, and appears to be leading this wave.

Marking the beginning of a pan-India, experience-led retail transformation, the company has unveiled its newly reimagined experience store in Indiranagar, Bengaluru—its first in a series of next-generation retail formats. Built around its ‘Designed to De-Stress’ philosophy, the store moves beyond transactional mattress buying to focus on holistic sleep solutions, with an emphasis on consultation, education, and personalised product discovery. More than a traditional retail outlet, the space is designed as an immersive sleep experience destination, featuring an in-store concept aimed at helping consumers better understand their sleep needs through guided trials and personalised assessments. 

The shift reflects a broader strategic move to make stores critical touchpoints in the brand’s marketing funnel, not just points of sale. “We see our experience centres not just as retail spaces, but as a key extension of our marketing funnel,” said Ullas Vijay, CMO, Duroflex.

In a conversation with exchange4media, Vijay talks about the brand’s expansion roadmap, the shift from comfort to stress-led storytelling, and why experience centres are emerging as a key marketing lever.

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Pan-India Retail Transformation Takes Centre Stage

During the interaction, Vijay told e4m that at the heart of Duroflex’s next phase of growth is an aggressive retail expansion strategy, one that goes beyond just adding more stores.

Across its portfolio, the company currently operates close to 81 COCO stores in India and is looking to expand this footprint to 150 stores over the next three years. The company also highlighted its sales mix, noting that e-commerce contributes around 17–18% of its revenue, while offline channels account for the remaining 83%. While metros remain a key focus, the brand also sees long-term opportunity in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.

The expansion, however, is not just about scale. “We will continue to expand, but equally important is revamping our existing stores. The new stores that we open will follow this new concept,” he added.

The Indiranagar outlet serves as the prototype for this shift, a format designed to help consumers make more informed decisions through better product experience and store design.

Importantly, this transformation also ties into how consumers shop in the category. Given that mattresses and related products are infrequent, high-involvement purchases, the company’s internal analysis shows that consumers typically take 15–20 days to arrive at a decision, making both discovery and experience critical touchpoints.

Beyond its exclusive outlets, Duroflex is also strengthening its retail reach through multi-brand channels, with a presence across 1,500–2,000 retail touchpoints nationwide. This, Vijay says, ensures proximity and convenience, especially in a category where physical evaluation remains critical.

“Consumers shouldn’t have to travel long distances to experience a product. Accessibility plays a very important role,” he noted.

Experience Centres as the New Marketing Layer

For Duroflex, experience centres are no longer just retail endpoints, they are becoming a key layer in the marketing funnel.

Vijay explains that the consumer journey in this category typically begins either online or through initial research—via websites, marketplaces, or reviews—before culminating in a physical visit. “These centres act as the bridge between research and final decision-making,” he said.

The Indiranagar store, for instance, incorporates design elements driven directly by consumer insights. One such feature is the use of sheer curtains to create semi-private spaces for customers trying out mattresses, addressing a discomfort many, especially women, expressed about testing products in open environments.

Such interventions, he said, are not just functional but also memorable, turning the store itself into a word-of-mouth and brand-building channel.

At the same time, Vijay emphasised that retail investments are not in competition with traditional advertising, but rather work in tandem. “These are very different channels, and the way they operate and deliver returns cannot be directly compared. Advertising builds saliency, while retail delivers the experience. One cannot work in isolation of the other,” he said.

He added that the consumer journey is inherently full-funnel—starting from discovery and awareness, moving to research, and eventually culminating in a physical store visit. “If any part of that journey is broken, the funnel won’t flow through,” Vijay noted.

Retail media, therefore, plays a critical role in ensuring accessibility and proximity, especially in a category that requires physical evaluation before purchase. While retail is increasingly becoming a brand-building medium, Vijay believes its role will continue to evolve alongside traditional marketing channels.

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Digital-First, But Full-Funnel

On the marketing front, Duroflex is leaning heavily into digital, reflecting broader shifts in media consumption and purchase behaviour.

“We are largely digital-first,” Vijay says, adding that digital platforms allow the brand to engage consumers precisely when they are actively researching.

Given the relatively short but critical decision window of 15–20 days, the focus is on being present during this phase to guide consumers toward the right choice. That said, he is clear that media and retail investments are interdependent.

“You cannot invest only in stores and not advertise. And you cannot advertise without having the right experience at the store. The full funnel has to work together,” he explained.

When it comes to evaluating the success of these experience centres, Duroflex is looking at both hard and soft metrics.

On one hand, there are traditional business indicators such as store performance and sales uplift. On the other, the company is closely tracking consumer sentiment. “We look at reviews from both buyers and non-buyers, and track improvements in NPS scores. If consumer sentiment is improving, it’s a strong signal that the store is doing its job,” Vijay explains.

Vijay also pointed to evolving consumer behaviour as a key driver of the brand’s strategy.

There is a clear increase in willingness to invest in sleep and long-term health, along with a noticeable rise in research-led decision-making.

At the same time, consumers are no longer evaluating products in isolation. “They are looking at their homes more holistically, from mattresses to recliners to sofas, and how everything fits together,” he says.

Despite the category evolving, one challenge hasn’t really changed, buying in this space is still complicated. “This is not an easy category to shop for,” Vijay admits. That’s why Duroflex is focussing heavily on educating consumers across touchpoints, whether through its stores, digital platforms or influencer collaborations. The idea, he says, is simple, to help people understand what to look for and make the right choice for themselves.