[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaj4K_rieG8[/embedyt]
Transcript of Video Titled “Massage Chair Industry Update – August 11, 2020”
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Alan: Hi, I’m Dr. Alan Weidner from ‘Massage-Chair-Relief.com‘ and today is our biweekly massage chair industry update for Tuesday, August 11th, 2020. We have a number of things to go over, mostly dealing with sales and with product availability.
[SCREEN TEXT: Luraco Legend Plus $1000 Off Until 8/16/20]
Alan: The Luraco Legend is on sale for $1000 off until the 16th. I havenโt seen the Legend on sale that much before, so thatโs quite a good price for that chair. Thatโs the American-made L-track chair from Luraco.
[SCREEN TEXT: Osaki Admiral & First Class on Sale, Including Two-Year Extended Warranty]
Alan: We also have the Osaki Admiral and the Osaki First Class both on sale, the Admiral priced at $4299, and the Osaki First Class at $4999, and those chairs both come with a two-year extended warranty. And Osaki two-year extended warranty basically gives you, that warranty gives you three years parts and labor, and then two more years of parts, so it really ends up being a five-year limited warranty for those chairs.
[SCREEN TEXT: OHCO M.8 Saddle Color Now in Stock]
Alan: Also, the OHCO M.8 in ‘Saddle’ is now in stock, that had been out of stock for about a month, and that just came in stock this week.
[SCREEN TEXT: Infinity Genesis & Riage X3 Discontinued – Deep Discounts Available While Inventory Lasts]
Alan: Also, the Genesis is being closed out, as I mentioned this before, the price has gone from $7299 down to $3299 until the model is, until the inventory’s gone, and as far as inventory goes, the only colors that they have left are the gray exterior, it’s kind of a gray, silver exterior, and the brown interior, it’s a dark brown, espresso brown. The black is out of stock and the rose gold, apparently, is out of stock as well. And the Riage X3 from Infinity is also on closeout, and that chair is priced at $4999, regularly, I believe, it was $6799. So, there are so very good prices for these closeouts.
[SCREEN TEXT: Differences Between the OHCO M.DX & the OHCO M.8]
Alan: Now, also, we introduced a new โ well, it’s kind of, I use this term loosely when I say introduced โ the OHCO, when the OHCO M.8 came out a couple of years ago, or a year and a half ago, there were three models, the OHCO M.8, the OHCO MD.8, or sorry, the OHCO M.8LE, and then the OHCO M.DX, but the M.DX was kind of, we didnโt really deal with that chair a lot. When we rebooted the new website after the redesign, we did not include that model in the inventory, but now that chair is out, and I think it always has been out, but now they’re really promoting it, and so that chair is now on our website. It’s very similar to the M.8, except it only comes in two colors, the ‘Midnight’ and the brown, or the ‘Walnut,’ which is the brown. It does not have the neck rollers. It does not have the heat in the neck. It has, let’s see, it has, oh, it doesnโt come with the aromatherapy module or the air-ionizer module, but the overall massage is exactly the same, and the only thing thatโs deficient are the neck rollers in the headpiece.
[SCREEN TEXT: Infinity Genesis Max Replaces the Infinity Genesis Model – In Our Showrooms this Week]
Alan: Also, the Genesis, now I mentioned that the Genesis has been discontinued. That chair has been discontinued, but it’s being replaced by the Genesis Max, and the Genesis Max is now on our website as well, and that chair will be retailing at $7499. And that is, it has the same silhouette, or outer-body design and look as the Genesis, and the Infinity Dynasty, the Infinity Evolution, the Infinity Palisade, all very the similar silhouette, and the same look, but the vary in certain features, but the overall massage is the same. And I’ve sat on the Infinity Dynasty, and that chair, even though it looks like the old Genesis, it definitely has a different feel. So, I suspect it’s got a newer roller mechanism, as a matter of fact, I’m pretty sure it does, it has an upgraded roller mechanism, and the Genesis Max will feel much the same, but it will be different from the original Genesis, so if you’re familiar with the old Genesis model, the one thatโs been discontinued, this will be a little bit different experience for you. But that chair, the Genesis Max โ which we will have in our showrooms this week, we ordered them last week, we’re expecting them in this week, all three of our showrooms โ it has the L-track, and it has calf rollers in addition to the foot rollers, and I believe it has the oscillating calf massage, so the airbags in the calves will kind of knead your calves, and it has that. It also has sleep and nature sounds from a sound card that the chair has. So, just laying there, you may not want to listen to music, but you may want to listen to some sounds of nature, or some, I’m not sure what the sleep sounds are. Maybe it’s a guy snoring, I don’t know, but I’m sure it’s something better than that, that will help you to sleep, and so it adds that. It still has the rocking technology, which is a feature thatโs unique to the Genesis Max and the Infinity Riage X3, and that family of chairs, and so it will continue to have the rocking technology, which means that in certain programs, the chair will rock back and forth, you know, kind of simulating a rocking chair, and it works off the Apple and Android apps as well. And I’ve never used the Apple and Android apps, except on the Ogawa Master Drive AI, because it only works off the tablet with the Android app, but it’s pretty cool to use the app off your phone or off your device, because it gives you a little bit more versatility than it would if you were just going off the regular, wired remote. So, that is that for those things.
[SCREEN TEXT: Check Out Our Pre-Owned Directory for Current Availability]
Alan: Let’s see, what else have I missed? Oh, we, you know, we havenโt had a lot of pre-owned chairs in a while, because of, well, just because we havenโt had a lot of returns, and we haven’t sold a lot of floor models, but we do have some good offerings now. Furniture for Life has asked that we donโt post any pre-owned chairs by our pre-owned prices on the website, so when you go to the website, you’ll see that like we have an Inada Nest thatโs for sale, and brand new they’re $3999, well, we have one that we can’t list the price of the pre-owned one, but you can call us, so we can tell you what the price is. So, that’s a very good chair, by the way, the Inada Nest, and the one that we have, I think, is like a month old, maybe two months old, and it’s got a, a very nice massage chair, it’s a smaller-bodied chair. It looks like the little brother to the Inada DreamWave. It has corrugated ridges on the rollers to give a more intense feel to the massage, but it’s a very nice chair, but we have it. We can’t give you the price on that one, but it is on sale, the pre-owned one, we have that one available. Also, we have a Luraco Legend, a pre-owned one, or our floor model from our showroom, and I can’t remember what the other one, oh, we have a Luraco iRobotics 7, which is a returned chair, and that one’s price is $6990, that, I don’t know if you’re aware of the Luraco brand name. They’re an American company based out of Arlington, Texas, but their chairs are claimed to be made in America, because all of their critical components, and a lot of their engineering and design and all that is done in the US. Some of their non, well, their non-critical components are made in Taiwan. So, not only is it considered made in America, but it’s also the first, or the only chair we carry that does not have any Chinese components at all. So, anyway, that chair is, we have the pre-owned one, we have, the iRobotics 7 is their flagship chair and it’s a very popular-selling chair, and it has been for a number of years, even with the advent of all of these L-tracks, that S-track iRobotics 7 Plus is still a very popular-selling chair. So, anyway, keep your eye on our pre-owned directory, and you’ll get to see what offering we have there. I believe we have a Master Drive AI from Ogawa coming back, so that should be up on the website within another week or so. Anyway, just kind of go there, there’s some great deals, we always have them discounted significantly, because you know, I donโt want to have inventory sitting around in my showroom, or in the back of, you know, in the storage area of my showrooms. We want to, you know, have those, we want to have that clear, and inventory costs me money, so we would like to sell those. So, anyway, yeah, keep an eye on those.
[SCREEN TEXT: Effects of Covid-19 on Massage Chair Relief & the Massage Chair Industry]
Alan: Also, the Covid continues to reign in the US, and it seems to be, at least here in Utah, the incidences are coming down because everybody’s wearing a mask, so hopefully you’re doing what you can to protect yourself, and of course, to be mindful of others, you know, I’m in my 60s, I have asthma, so I’m kind of sensitive to the lung thing, and that kind of worries me, so I forget to bring a mask sometimes, but then, you know, I carry it in my car, and I have to run back to the car and get it, just because I want to kind of keep myself from getting it, but I also donโt want to get someone ill if I happen to be, have the, you know, have the virus, and I’m asymptomatic. So, anyway, we’re taking precautions in our showrooms by disinfecting our chairs, we book by appointment only, not by regular hours, just so we can manage the traffic, but even then sometimes we get someone walking in when we’re open for an appointment, or we’re there for an appointment, but my staff have masks. We have masks available at the showrooms for our customers to use if they feel like they want to use them, and so we do what we can to minimize the risks for sure. But we do sell a lot of massage chairs, because people are realizing that they still want massage, but they, for the most part, donโt go to massage therapists, and in many cases, donโt go to their physical therapists, or chiropractors anymore until they know the threat’s gone. So, they get massage chairs, and it’s a wonderful replacement therapy for people that are used to conservative manual therapy, so those people still are coming out to look at chairs and buy them, and so we are still available for them. We just have to manage the traffic and the social distancing. Also, oh, and along the lines of Covid, the white-glove deliveries are being delayed with a lot of companies, and so what typically โ OK, so standard curbside delivery usually takes about a week โ you order a chair, you have it shipped to your property, it’s a week. If you want it brought in to home, and set up, and assembled, in-home delivery and assembly, thatโs what we call, in our business, white-glove delivery, and white-glove delivery has been slowed down considerably with a lot of companies. Theyโve announced like for example, Daiwa doesnโt even do in-home deliveries right now. Human Touch, and Furniture for Life, and a couple of other companies have reported that there could be delays of up to four to six weeks for white-glove delivery. Usually, it used to take just two weeks, and in some areas, it still does, and it’s very much in flux, is there’s a spike in a particular area, you know, the companies are, some companies are not delivering indoors, so there’s less suppliers available, so it takes longer to get the chairs delivered. So, anyway, just be aware that there are effects of this pandemic, even though the supply of chairs is fine, the distribution of the chairs can be a bit of a problem. So, just be aware if you’re ordering white-glove delivery, it may take a while.
[SCREEN TEXT: “My Opinion” Videos]
Alan: Anyway, and then lastly, you know, I’ve had a couple of suggestions from customers over the last year or so, where they have asked me to maybe, you know, I do my videos, right, so if you go on my YouTube channel, you’ll see videos from me, and a lot of the videos are about chair features. You know, introducing a chair to you, how to use a chair for the first time, how the, you know, the remote works, or how the, you know, calf rollers work, or whatever. And some, a couple of times, people have suggested ‘Well, why donโt you do a video where you kind of assess the chair, and you know, based on my opinion of it, like the pros and cons?’ And so, I’ve mulled that over in my head for a long time, because I donโt really like the pros-and-cons idea too much, only because what’s a con for me might be a pro for you. So, let’s say for me a chair is too light, and it’s not a strong enough massage. Well, that might be a real pro for you, it might be a con for me, or if it doesnโt fit someone who’s 6′ 4″, which I’m not, thatโs a con for someone who’s 6′ 4″, but who cares if you’re 5′ 9″, 6′, or 5′ 8″, you’ll fit fine in it. So, I kind of had trouble figuring out how do you really gauge, you know, what a pro and a con is for a chair? And then also, you know, when you try to gauge intensity, what is intense? I remember having a customer come to my showroom saying ‘I want your most intense chair, I want the strong, I want deep tissue,’ and thatโs what they think they want, a deep tissue. Well, I remember this one lady came in and I put her in the strongest chair we had, she says ‘Oh my gosh, no, too strong.’ So, then we put her in, you know, we kind of gradually went down in strength of chairs, based on what I believed was, you know, intensity, was qualified as an intensity level. Well, she ended up getting a chair that had the lowest intensity of all of our chairs. It was the most mild chair, and so for her, deep core, or sorry, not deep core, deep-tissue massage was a whole different thing than what I had thought deep tissue was. So, anyway, so from those examples, you can see that it may be hard to grade a chair, but I’ve started just this week, I recorded another series of videos, and I’ve included a new video for the chairs that we did. They’re not up on the website, I should have one up this week, one or two of them up this week, but I’m calling it my opinion. And so, it’s not pros and cons, it’s not you know, pluses and minuses, it’s basically my opinion on a chair, and I will offer my opinions on certain features that either I like or donโt like, or that other people have claimed they like or donโt like, but this will give you a better idea of maybe a more subjective assessment of a chair, without it being just a matter-of-fact video, does that make sense? So, they will now, I will be now putting out, you know, “My Opinion” videos on particular models, and it’s just an overview of a chair, saying things that are pluses and minuses about each chair according to our customers, and most of these videos will be on chairs that we have in the showroom. There are chairs that I sell that are on my website that I’ve never seen and I’ve never sat on, but and so, it’s hard for me to give, you know, some feedback or input on that chair. But for the ones that we have in our showrooms, yes, I will definitely be discussing that.
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Alan: Well, anyway, thatโs it. If you have any questions, feel free to give us a call at 888-259-5380, and of course, feel free to reach out through our, you know, our online chat, or comments on a blog post, or a video, or whatnot. We’re always available and we’d be happy to answer any questions for you.
[SCREEN TEXT: Please “Thumbs Up” Like This Video!!]
Alan: Also, if you found this video helpful, please feel free to thumbs up ‘Like’ us on our YouTube channel, and help us spread the word about massage chairs by sharing this video with your friends and family on your various and sundry social media platforms. I’m Dr. Weidner from ‘Massage-Chair-Relief.com,’ and I will see you again in two weeks. Bye bye.
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