Transcript of Video Titled “Massage Chair Industry Update – February 23, 2016”

Alan: Hi, I’m Dr. Alan Weidner from ‘Massage-Chair-Relief.com’ and today is our biweekly massage chair industry update for Tuesday, February 23rd, 2016, and we’ve got some stuff to share with you today, and I’ll get right off on it with stock.

[SCREEN TEXT: Stock Status]

Alan: OK, so the WholeBody 7.1 from Human Touch, is back-ordered in the ‘Black’ color, until April. Also – and by the way, speaking of Human Touch, they are discontinuing the HT-7450, and the ZeroG 2.0 – now with the ZeroG 4.0, and the 5.0, they’re discontinuing the lesser model, the 2.0. Now, I can’t see them keeping both the 4.0, and the 5.0, either, so I suspect over time, they will discontinue the 4.0. It’s the same price as the 5.0, but the 5.0 is a little bit bigger, it’s got some nicer features to it. So, I can’t see them sticking with the 4.0 either, but for now, the 2.0 is discontinued, the HT-7450 is discontinued. Also, Ogawa, the ‘Bronze’ Ogawa Refresh, is back-ordered until the end of March, and the JP Premium, the Osaki OS-4D Pro JP Premium is back-ordered until May 16th, and that’s on all colors.

[SCREEN TEXT: New Japanese-Made Osaki Model]

Alan: But you know what? They’ve introduced a new model, it’s called the Osaki – these, I’m getting confused with the length of some of these names – but it’s the Osaki JP Premium 4D, not the – or no, sorry, 4S, not the 4D that we’ve been carrying, but the 4S, which is a new model. We just added it to our website this last week, and you can check it out. It’s a nice looking chair, it’s a more modern looking chair than the 4D. The 4S is also made by the Fuji company in Japan. It’s 100% Japanese-made, and this model, this Osaki JP Premium 4S, is actually the top selling model in Japan, the #1 selling model in Japan, and the retail price on that one’s $6995. It comes in black and brown, I believe, and in a crème as well, I cannot recall, I better not over-speak myself, but anyway, just wanted you to know that they have a new model out. So, the JP Premium, the 4D JP Premium is back-ordered, the new JP Premium 4S is now in stock, and we’re getting one in our California showroom. It’s on its way, and it should be there by later this week, but I’ll give you more information on that, as we go along, as I learn more. Let’s see, what else have we got cooking, as far as stock goes? The Osaki OS-7075R is back-ordered for about six months, and that’s on the ‘Black,’ and the ‘Brown,’ and I understand the ‘Taupe’ is almost out of stock too. That one’s going to be back-ordered for six months. So, anyway, those are the back-orders that I am aware of, and of course, the discontinued models of Human Touch.

[SCREEN TEXT: Titan Alpine Fixed?]

Alan: Now, the Titan Alpine, we have had some trouble with the Titan Alpine, with the roller system, on a heavier body, and not just on a heavier body, even on a lighter body, there’s been some problems where the rollers have kind of – when they’ve gotten down underneath the – down in the low back, they kind of, kind of get caught, or kind of, yeah, maybe get, one side of the rollers gets caught, or whatever. Apparently, they’ve fixed that, and that’s improved now. So, whatever the problem was, they’ve got it taken care of. I think it was just a bad batch, if there is such a thing in massage chairs, but I think that maybe the rollers on this particular batch of chairs – because it kind of happened in a – we noticed it with our customers in a, kind of in a specific timeframe, and so, apparently that’s been repaired.

[SCREEN TEXT: SoCal Store Sign is UP!!]

Alan: Also, I did a – oh, and the store, as far as the Southern California store goes – we have our sign up, hallelujah, we got the sign up, finally. Now, today, Tuesday, we’re supposed to have our final inspection. So, even though we’ve been open since the end of November, we are still not – we haven’t passed our final inspection – and hopefully that’ll happen today, and once that happens, then we can do a few other things to the showroom that we want, to decorate it up a little bit more. But anyway, the California showroom is on its way, and we have a new sign. The sign is nice, I don’t have the new sign up on our – the picture of the store with the new sign up on our website yet – that’s on our list of things to do, hopefully that’ll be done soon.

[SCREEN TEXT: Infinity Escape In Stock Next Week!!]

Alan: Oh, and the Infinity Escape – I forgot to mention this, the Infinity Escape back-order – remember we told you that it was back-ordered until the 15th, and then it was going to be the end of the month? Well, this week is the end of the month, so we expect the Infinity Escape to be in stock this weekend. It’s a popular chair, we have sold quite a few of them, and they don’t even have them in stock, but we do sell quite a few of them, and so we’re looking forward to have that one in stock. We’ll notify you when that is to be, but knock on wood, the first week of March, our customers will have received their chairs, and I also have been posting a couple of – when I was in California a few weeks ago, we recorded a bunch of videos on the new models – the Luraco, the JP Premium, the 4D JP Premium, the Infinity Escape, the Ogawa chairs, the Titan Executive, the Human Touch 4.0, and the Navitas. Anyway, and I can’t believe I remembered all that, you know, it’s amazing, as I get older, I forget a lot of stuff real easy, but then sometimes I remember things, and I can’t – and I’m kind of amazed that I remember. So, anyway, I remembered all those models, and I probably forgot one though, but anyway, I put up the intro, and the first time use videos, for the Luraco, and for the Infinity Escape, so you can check those out a little bit on the Infinity Escape. I think I’ve got one more video that needs to be posted on the Infinity Escape, before we make some more. I think that’s on the L-track, or maybe the remote control, I can’t remember, but I will have that posted as well, and they’re getting a lot of hits, so that chair is a popular chair. Good job from Infinity, because the chair’s priced at $2995; it’s a decent price for an L-track chair with a decent feature set. You know, I also posted a review – oh, speaking, well, talk about videos – while we’re still on the topic of videos, I posted a couple of interviews; one with Garrett Hammerel, and one with Dan Tibbetts, and both of them are the Infinity IT-8500. And it’s interesting to me that even after four or five years, this Infinity IT-8500 is still one of our – if not, right now, our top selling Chinese model – overall, top selling chair, and it’s a very nice chair. It fits people well, it’s got a great roller system, great stretch program, good foot rollers, it’s just an all-around – I don’t know, some chairs just have it, and some don’t, this chair has it, and the Infinity IT-8500 – anyway, where was I going with that? Oh, these interviews, I did with these customers, own that chair, so you get some feedback on that chair.

[SCREEN TEXT: Panasonic MA73 vs. Inada DreamWave Review]

Alan: Also, I did a review – now, as you know, the Inada DreamWave has been, without question, the top selling luxury chair, and the top selling Japanese chair for years, in the United States, and it’s a great chair, and everybody compares – most other chairs are compared to the Inada. And I’ll get people that’ll phone, and say ‘Well, I can’t afford the Inada, DreamWave’ – and when they say Inada, I know they mean DreamWave – ‘I can’t afford the Inada, so what’s the next best thing,’ or ‘Yeah, I tried the Inada, and it’s a great chair, but I just can’t afford it,’ or ‘I need something different,’ or whatever. So, I’m going to do a little bit more of some of the comparisons between the Inada DreamWave, and some of the other chairs that’re kind of in the same category; I consider it the luxury category. We’ve got the Panasonic MA73, which I just wrote a review, it’s about a 1500-word review. It’s not a short review, but it’s a good review, and I talked about, in the review – and I started doing this, in a recent number of months – with my reviews, where I’ll put, ‘advantage,’ if I’m doing a comparative review, I’ll say ‘This is the feature, blah, blah, blah, advantage, X model, or Y model,’ and I tried to do that with the DreamWave, and the Panasonic MA73. So, it gives you a good overall feeling for how those two chairs compare. I will also be writing a review comparing the Luraco iRobotics 7, which has kind of snuck up on us, and become a very popular chair, and it is in the same – not as expensive as the DreamWave, but in that same price category, and the same luxury category – as the Inada DreamWave, so I’ll write a review about that as well. And by the way – and I think I have already talked about this, I wrote a review, I wrote a blog article about this – but there is some confusion about where chairs are made. Like for example, the American-made Luraco iRobotics 7 is really an American-made chair, with some non-critical components, imported from Taiwan. The Inada DreamWave is made in Japan, but it has some non-critical components imported from China. The Navitas Sleep is designed, and engineered, by Japanese engineers, but components are made in Taiwan, and the chair is assembled in China. So, anyway, if you have any questions, and I probably just raised some, just by blabbering on here, but take a look at my article, talking about ‘Where Is my Massage Chair Made?’ or ‘Where Are Massage Chairs Made?’ It’ll give you an idea of where these chairs are made. Panasonic is a Japanese designed, and engineered chair, but it’s 100% made in China. So, anyway, I guess that’s neither here nor there right now, but just talking these luxury chairs, they’re not, maybe, all that you might think they are, once you dig a little deeper in to where they’re made, and what components they have, and etcetera, etcetera. It does not take away from their quality workmanship. We still have the Japanese design, and engineering, or the American design, and engineering, so they’re amazing chairs, but it’s not all as cut-and-dry as just, made in Japan, or made in America, I hope that is clear to you.

[SCREEN TEXT: Difference Between Infinity Riage & Iyashi]

Alan: Also, let’s see – oh, I get this question all the time, and you know what, I’m going to write a little article about this, or post it on my blog – but the difference between the Infinity Iyashi, and the Infinity Riage. Now, the Infinity Iyashi, and the Infinity Riage, are both obviously, Infinite Therapeutics chairs, or Infinity Therapeutics chairs, and the Riage is sold strictly through Brookstone, it’s a Brookstone-exclusive chair. The Infinity Iyashi is sold through all the other retailers, like us, and everybody else. So, I get asked quite often, what are the differences between the two chairs, and you know what? Well, doggone it, I can’t find the email right now, but I talked about the differences between the Infinity Iyashi, and the Riage, to this customer, and you know, there’s difference in the appearance of the chair; there’s difference in some of the massage areas, some of the areas of massage; there’s differences in the stretch program – I don’t, and the space – well, you know, the Iyashi has a space-saving feature, the Riage doesn’t. But anyway, I will post an article on the blog about that, but it’s important to understand that they are very, very similar chairs. They’re from the same manufacturer, but they are just – they just have a few – a few differences that are enough differences that it motivates people to want to contact me, and find out what they are. Is that it? I think that is just about it for this week. So, maybe this video didn’t last as long as I was thinking it would. But anyway, if you have any questions, you can feel free to call me anytime. I’m always available, and if you can’t get to me directly, leave a message, and I will call you back. If you have any feedback, or comments, or questions, about anything that has to do with what we’ve talked about here during this video, please let me know, love to answer them for you, love to chitchat with you about them, and you can reach me in many, many ways. You can reach me through the comments section of our Facebook page, of the YouTube channel; you can usually reach me on chat, our chat software on our website; you can reach me through the toll-free number, through the store numbers; we’re always available.

[SCREEN TEXT: Dr. Weidner Speaking Vietnamese?!?!?]

Alan: But please feel free to call, and don’t ever hesitate to reach out to me if you have a question – or if you do call the website number, you’ll be forwarded to the California showroom store, because we have a couple of guys there that know a lot – a heck of a lot about massage chairs. And by the way – oh, here’s something that you’re going to get a kick out of – we’re going to be doing some advertising, in Southern California, to the Vietnamese audience. There’s a – and I don’t know if you’re aware of this – but there’s a lot of Vietnamese people in Southern California, and a lot of them are very close to our store, and my manager, of my store down there, is Vietnamese. So, we’re going to be doing an interview with a celebrity lady, on television down there, named Tân Tạo, and Michael, my store manager in California, wants me to learn some Vietnamese, so that when I get on the interview with her, I won’t – well, I’m going to look like an idiot anyway, that’s just the way it works with me – but he doesn’t want me to look too much like an idiot, so he taught me how to say ‘Hello everyone,’ and ‘Hello, Ms. Tân Tạo.’ So, it goes something like this: ‘Xin chào quy vi,’ Xin chào chi Tân Tạo.’ How’d I do? And then, of course, to say ‘Thank you,’ it’s: ‘Cam ơn,’ and so I’ll be saying that at the end, I’m sure, as well, but anyway, that ought to be quite amusing to see Dr. Weidner speaking Vietnamese, or what he interprets as Vietnamese, what he understands as Vietnamese. Who knows? Maybe they’re telling me, you know, some terrible word in Vietnamese, but I doubt it, Michael’s a good man, he wouldn’t lead me astray. But anyway, maybe when we get those commercials, we’ll put them on our YouTube channel, so you can watch, and laugh, with us, with all the Vietnamese people. Anyway, I’m Dr. Alan Weidner from ‘Massage-Chair-Relief.com,’ and go ahead and thumbs up ‘Like’ this video if you found it helpful. Please, of course, feel free to share these videos, any of our videos, with your Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Plus, Twitter accounts. We just appreciate you helping us spread the word about massage chairs, but I will see you again in two weeks, on our next biweekly massage chair industry update. Have a great day. Bye bye.

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