SweetNight recently announced a new expansion into the US market, having spent more than 10 years building foundations as an innovative mattress brand based in China. Most recently, we have been promoting our ‘flippable’ mattress, DreamyS1, which tackles the problem of a bed being too soft or too firm. The solution is that users can rotate their food-head position, or simply flip it over. We are incredibly proud of the product, and while we have been meeting demand in a global market for some time, we are excited to set up shop in a new location.

However, as much as we would like to make this move based on confidence and good faith in our products alone, and while much of our consumer market is already based in the US, the move over to the States brings a different set of challenges. Our entire business must adapt to a new way of doing things that is in line with US industry best practices. So what exactly does a company have to take into account when it makes a major international move?

Supply Chains

The Covid-19 pandemic exposed just how fragile supply chains can be, and the severity of the knock-on effects of global events. However, one of the keys to avoiding these issues is to not rely too heavily on one supplier location. SleepNight has built relationships with factories and cooperative partners in China, Southeast Asia, Europe, Mexico, and our new base in the United States. This diversification of locations allows us to coordinate and achieve quick responses on information and logistics.

Customer Experience (CX)

Customer experience is vastly different among different cultures, and should be thoughtfully addressed to ensure an unfamiliar brand is friendly and usable. We are very proud that our customers are from all over the world with different cultural backgrounds. But we know their expectations for service and quality are the same. ‘Customer first’ is always the core of our philosophy and the DNA of our products and services. Training a stellar team of customer service professionals who can provide the best possible solutions for customer experience, is the winning ticket to successfully meet any new cultural challenges. Our commitment to customers also goes before anything else, which we achieve by offering a 100-night sleep trial, 10-year warranty, memberships on the website, and more. 

Managing quality control

Managing a large number of factories, suppliers, locations, and customers inevitably brings with it the challenge of maintaining the high-standards our brand has built its name on across the world. Based on an industry standard quality control system (ISO9001), we have crafted a bespoke problem solving and tracking optimization platform. Implementing ‘Six Sigma’ strategies to achieve continuous improvement and lower quality defects. QC and tracking are strictly implemented through the entire process – from supplier quality management, raw materials, processing, storage, logistics, end-customer use, and experience. It’s a long journey, with lots of opportunities for quality to slip, but we have seen our system work time and time again. We also established a quality data center to strengthen supervision and management of quality issues, and to also further establish quality engineering and management systems. 

Adjusting to an International Marketplace

Moving into a new market always carries a degree of risk, but the SweetNight team has faith in the quality of our products – which is always going to be the most important factor. In addition to having already established a professional, efficient end-to-end product, supply-chain, customer service, and marketing system globally, we know that we can withstand the challenges or risks a new venture might bring. We have confidence in our capability to provide world-class products and services for our customers all around the world. 

Making an international expansion may signal the continued success of a company, but it does bring with it a great degree of responsibility to revamp and maintain the quality of systems in place. For SweetNight, it’s a way to better serve the customers who have shown their loyalty to an international brand when it finally arrives on home soil.

To learn more about SweetNight visit https://sweetnight.com.