Variety of companies are partnering with online retailers—or launching their own offerings—to stay ahead of the burgeoning category

The boxed-bed category has gained even more momentum in 2017. Just in the past few months:

• Minneapolis-based mass merchant Target invested $75 million in mattress startup Casper and began selling a selection of Casper products online and in stores in June. The move follows a failed attempt by Target to acquire the bed brand, headquartered in New York, for $1 billion in May, according to various news reports.

Casper launched in 2014 as an online-only retailer of a one-size-fits-all boxed foam bed and has since broadened its product line and distribution channels. The company’s marketing savvy and “out-of-the-box” sales success have inspired hundreds of copycats around the globe and garnered plenty of media coverage.

Target sells the Casper mattress on its website only. In-store and online, it retails Casper pillows, sheets and several exclusive Casper-branded products, such as a topper that converts to seating.

• Houston-based Mattress Firm now has begun a pilot partnership with online bed brand Purple, which it says features innovative technology. The Alpine, Utah-based brand’s patented Hyper-Elastic Polymer is engineered for comfort and responds to pressure without making sleepers compromise between soft or firm, the company said in a news release. The mattresses are sold in select Mattress Firm retail stores.
• Serta Simmons Bedding LLC, headquartered in Atlanta, has inked a deal with Houston-based Sinomax Ltd. to manufacture Beautyrest- and Serta-branded mattress-in-a-box collections and foam sleep accessories. Sinomax is a foamer and finished goods manufacturer with significant business in the United States among big-box retailers such as Walmart and Costco. In 2015, it opened its first U.S. manufacturing facility in La Vergne, Tennessee.

The two companies have signed a three-year agreement allowing Sinomax USA to develop and manufacture branded mattresses, pillows and toppers at its U.S. plant, according to a June 5 news release. The boxed beds will be a first for the Beautyrest brand and will replace those currently available under the Serta name. Offerings will be available as early as July.

• Milwaukee-based factory-direct chain Verlo Mattress has launched Verlo-to-Go, a carryout boxed foam mattress that is available online and in regional stores, giving consumers the option to test the mattress before purchasing.

The company says the new offering is so easy to transport, a customer can leave the store with a new mattress the same day, stowing it easily in the back of a car. Once home and removed from the box, the compressed mattress expands and is ready to be slept on within minutes, the company said in a news release.

Verlo-to-Go comes in standard twin, twin XL, full, queen and king mattress sizes, with prices starting at $299. If purchased online, Verlo-to-Go can be shipped anywhere in the continental United States at no charge. Currently, two mattress models are available, with additional variations and price points to be added in the coming months.