A business trying to find a way to float

Back in 1996, CNN was covering the story of an English farmer from Surrey who thought he should fit the stalls of his cows with rubber mats filled with water, instead of the usual straws, as the water mats were a much cleaner (the mad cow disease fear was just beginning at the time) and comfortable place to rest (the inventive farmer had noticed his cows produced 7% more milk, because they felt better).

This was just one fact verified in various deluxe clinics and elegant hotels in America and Europe: one sleeps better on water mats than on traditional ones.

The theory that the healthiest sleep is due to hard mats and a very small pillow placed under one’s head has been facing contradiction over the past decades from those in favour of soft mats.

The Americans were the first to make a habit out of using water mats, exotic enough to attract clients in search of the thrill and comfortable enough to help those sick or stressed to sleep well.

Therefore, since those in the United States are so very practical, they succeeded in creating a new industry, the waterbeds industry, targeting three market segments: clinics and hospitals, deluxe hotels and consumers willing to invest in the cosiness of their own homes.

At the moment, the most famous water mats producers are US, China and Denmark-based, while the widespread waterbeds use in Western Europe has become yesterday’s news.

On the other hand, few people in Romania and other CEE countries ever sleep on such beds, while most of them do not even know what a waterbed is.

“When I entered this business, two years ago, I thought there were enough people in Romania with a mind open enough as to accept new things, who could realise it’s worth putting money into their own comfort. But it was not the case.

Back then, another two companies in Romania – Bucharest-based Aloha Trading and one in Brasov, were importing waterbeds.

Both of them backed out, as business didn’t work out as planned,” Codrut Ciubuc, the owner of the only company importing waterbeds in Romania, Autoservice Beta, maintained.