Transcript of Video Titled “Massage Chair Industry Update – November 6, 2013 (Part 2)”

Alan: Well, getting back to Johnson, when I did a little homework on Johnson, I was impressed by a couple of things. The first thing, most importantly, was that it had a three-year, parts-and-labor, in-home warranty.

[SCREEN TEXT: Johnson Chairs – Made in Taiwan & 3-Year Parts & Labor In-Home Warranty]

Alan: Parts and labor, in home, for three years is a big deal, the only other companies that have that are Inada and Panasonic, which are two of the top name brands in the industry. Well, you might think ‘Well, that’s just fine,’ if you remember on the movie Tommy Boy, anybody can make a warranty, and throw it a box, and put anything in a box, and send it off, but if there’s nobody there to take care of the warranty and cover the warranty, it doesn’t matter how good the warranty is. Well, Johnson, or this Inner Balance, they’re a big company, they sell, I believe they sell a lot of wellness equipment, and they’ve been around for a long time, and it’s a big company, and the Johnson chairs are part of their company, it’s a division of their company. They also have some Inner Balance chairs, I believe, but they’re pretty much just the Chinese, the typical Chinese chairs that, you know, that we’ll see if you wanted to get one from Osaki, or Infinite Therapeutics, or Cozzia, or Omega, so I didn’t feel like I needed to add more of those types of chairs. The other thing that’s unique about the Johnson chairs, not only do they have a three-year, parts-and-labor, in-home warranty, but they also are made in Taiwan. So, the only other chair we know of that we sell that’s made in Taiwan is the IT-9800 from Infinite Therapeutics, and it’s a good chair. It’s a different chair, it’s got a different feel about it, the remote’s different, as you watch on our videos on YouTube about the IT-9800, it’s got a different feel, there’s no airbags in it, it’s all rollers, it’s got an ‘Inversion’ feature, which is unique, it’s got a remote control that’s different, and it took me a little, you know, a little training to get used to it, but it’s a very good chair, and I know that the quality of the Taiwanese chairs is good. So, I was interested in that, so we will probably be introducing the Johnson line in the next week or two. There’s a lot that of work getting it up on the website, and getting, you know, the information written up about the chairs, and whatnot. We’re hoping to get their, I believe it’s called the 6800, it’s the – yeah, the J6800, that’s their top of the line chair, the prices on them are, they range from, of the three that we’re going to carry, from $3499 up to $4999 – and that’s kind of right in par with a lot of the Chinese chair prices, so I think the pricing is reasonable. We’ll see how the quality of the chair is, if there’s – how the feature set is compared to some of the Chinese chairs, and of course, how the quality is – but I’m real excited about the warranty. I think that, a three-year, parts-and-labor warranty, with a chair priced like that, is a wonderful, wonderful deal, so I let you know about more of that as we get more involved with them, and get them on to the website.

[SCREEN TEXT: Visit from Ed Cini of Panasonic]

Alan: Let’s see, oh, we’re covering all kinds of good stuff today. Oh, you know, guess who visited me yesterday, yesterday Ed Cini, the national sales guy for Panasonic came in, flew in from New Jersey, or New York, he’s from New Jersey, where the Panasonic head office is, and he came and spent the day with me yesterday. Ed came back in February, and we had a wonderful visit, we talked Panasonic chairs, we talked about the marketplace, talked about, you know, issues, problems, whatnot, and Ed’s such a good guy, and I really enjoy visiting with Ed, and I love his New York accent, I just get a kick out of the New York accent. When I went to chiropractic college – and I’m from Canada originally, and you know, there’s not a lot of New Yorkers in Edmonton where I’m from, it’s too cold for anybody, and I remember going to Los Angeles to go to my chiropractic college – and there was a whole bunch of New York guys in, guys and gals, in my chiropractic class. I was just fascinated by them, like I mean, up in Canada, we have all kinds of different countries represented. Canada’s a very multicultural country – I mean, we have India, people from India, and Pakistan, and Africa, and China, and all places in the Orient, and Russia, and a lot of Eastern, you know, the former Eastern European countries, political refugees, we have – Canada’s packed with multiculturalism, it’s really a beautiful, beautiful country, and very well integrated. Well, nothing fascinated me more than running in to New Yorkers, I mean, I’ve met people from all countries, all accents, all skin colors, but the people that fascinated me most were the New Yorkers, when I went to chiropractic college. I used to just love to listen to them talk, and they always seemed to dress in black, and their humor was so dry, and they were kind of – you know, especially the guys from New York City, if you asked them a question, it’s a dumb question, you know, you kind of – their response sometimes would make you even feel more dumb, but I just love that, love the New York state of mind, and the New York humor, and the New York approach, and of course, the New York accent. Well, Ed’s got that New York accent, I mean, it’s not like ‘Forgetaboutit,’ it’s not like the Mafia on The Godfather, but the accent was just choice, and I love listening to Ed talk. My wife and I, and he, went out for lunch, and even my wife commented after, she said ‘I love the way that guy talks.’

Anyway, that’s neither here nor there, I guess, I’m just going off on a tangent, but Ed’s a great guy, and he came out, and we had a wonderful chitchat about Panasonic. Of course, as you know, or may not know, Panasonic makes some of the best chairs in the world, they’re very, very well made. They’ve moved all their manufacturing to China, a year ago April, so over a year and a half ago. The MA70 and the 30007 are all made in China now, along with the 1285 and the 30005, but they’re still engineered, designed, and overseen by a Japanese component of the company, so the quality control is very, very strong in Panasonic’s warehouses, or factories, and that is something that I want Ed to address. We’re going to do an interview in a couple of weeks, a video online Skype interview, and I want him to talk about this.

[SCREEN TEXT: Panasonic Owns the Chinese Factories That Make Their Chairs]

Alan: He says that some of the concerns with some of these companies right now is that, companies that import chairs, they do not own the factories that the chairs come from. So, if a factory was to shut down, or if something terrible was to happen to one of their suppliers, like the factory makes their chairs, but also imports pieces or components for the chairs, and if one of those suppliers, major suppliers, went down, or if that factory that the chair was assembled, and you know, primarily manufactured in, goes down, all of a sudden, a massage chair company does not have chairs, that could be devastating to that company as well as to all the customers who bought chairs made by that company, or imported by that company. The point Ed was making is that Panasonic makes their, or they own the companies, they own the factories, where their chairs are being made, so I think that is a very, very important factor to consider. I mean, why not, these things could happen, you never know, all kinds of weird stuff can happen in this world anymore, but anyway, a very, very good point.

[SCREEN TEXT: Video Interview With Ed Cini in the Works!]

Alan: Anyway, we talked about it, and we’ll record the video, we’ll record the interview next week, and talk about some of these more broad scoped industry things as opposed to maybe model specific, but I’m looking forward to visit with Ed on Skype, and will talk to you about that, I’ll let you know when that happens, of course.

[SCREEN TEXT: Holiday Rush Coming! Get Your Chair Sooner Than Later]

Alan: Just a couple more things, it’s fourth quarter, November and December are the busiest months for massage chair people. If you thinking of getting a chair for Christmas, or for any of the holiday season, or for Thanksgiving, or New Year’s, or whatever, get them as soon as you can, do not wait until December, especially if you want to get a particular color that may be out of stock by then, because things, after Black Friday/Cyber Monday, that weekend, the sales start to go a little skiwampus, and stock becomes minimal for many colors, if not nonexistent altogether until the New Year, when they get new shipments in. So, if you’re thinking about getting chairs for Christmas, for Thanksgiving, for the holiday season, however you, whatever – whatever you’re thinking of getting it for, this fourth quarter – think about getting them earlier than later, so you don’t get caught not getting the color you want, or the model you want, anyway, and make sure you order in time so that you get the thing by Christmas. Anyway, let me know if you need any help with ordering a chair, I’m always available. You can call me at our toll-free number 888-259-5380, and I try to handle most of the customer calls because I love to visit with the customers, but we can help you know how the stock status is, and I can help you with your order as well.

[SCREEN TEXT: Subscribe to Our YouTube Channel for More Videos!]

Alan: So anyway, that’s it for it for this week, I’m Dr. Alan Weidner from ‘Massage-Chair-Relief.com. Thank you so much for spending time – I spend a little bit too much time today, I’m sorry to jabber on so much – but there’s so much to talk about. If you have any questions, give me a call. Please ‘Like’ us or share us or ‘+1’ us on Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus. Subscribe to our YouTube channel if you want to get updates on further massage chair videos, and we’re putting out a lot of them right now with all these visits and interviews and the chair reviews. Oh, there’s just so much content and information out there in the massage chair world that we are making available to you. Go ahead and subscribe to the channel, and you will get those updates. Again, I’m Dr. Alan Weidner, have a magnificent day. We’ll see you in two weeks. Bye bye.