Transcript of Video Titled “Massage Chair Industry Update – January 20, 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 Monday, January 20th, 2020. Welcome, thanks for coming today, and visiting with, watching this video today.
[SCREEN TEXT: CES Update!]
Alan: I got back last week from the Furniture Market, or sorry, not Furniture Market, from the Consumer Electronics Show, the CES show in Las Vegas, and I had a chance to visit my suppliers there. I put up videos of the suppliers that we visited with, including Human Touch, OHCO, D.Core, Synca, and Positive Posture, and so if you want to see, you know, what I learned about from each of these companies, and some of the new models, go ahead and check out those videos on our YouTube channel. The YouTube channel is YouTube.com slash, I believe it’s MassageChairRelief. Let me just make sure I got that right. Yeah, MassageChairRelief, no hyphens there, and that’ll give you a pretty good idea of what we’ve got, what we saw there. The new models that we saw there were the D.Core, the D.Core Cirrus chair they had on display, a very nice chair, we have that in all of our showrooms now. It’s a very strong chair, the D stands for deep, deep core, and so that chair really digs in. So, if you’re looking for a good chair, for a real strong massage, thatโs the one to go with. It also has arm rollers underneath the arms, and it has calf rollers, it has heat, a number of pretty cool features. I’ll be posting a blog, putting up a blog post, talking about the differences, or talking about the new line, and the differences between the Cirrus and the Cloud, which are the two models they have. The Cirrus is the one that we have in all of our showrooms. Thatโs the flagship chair for this new line. Anyway, they also had, Positive Posture had their Positive Posture Sport there, which was quite a bit more aggressive than the old Positive Posture, the original Positive Posture.
[SCREEN TEXT: Infinity Imperial Massage Chair]
Alan: Also, we saw the Infinity Imperial there. The Infinity Imperial is a model theyโve had around a while. It used to be an exclusive, I believe, of Mattress Firm, but now it’s available to us as an online retailer, and in our stores. I believe we’ll be getting that chair in our California showroom. It’s a very, a very nice, it looks like the old Infinity Iyashi, made in the same factory, a very good factory. It has the same body styling or silhouette as the Infinity Iyashi, but it has 3D rollers, calf rollers, air ionizer, it has a wireless remote control, of course, foot rollers and Bluetooth, and all the other things that you’d expect from a chair nowadays, but a very nice chair. We should get that one in our showroom within the next week or so.
[SCREEN TEXT: The New OHCO R.6 Massage Chair]
Alan: What else did they have new there? OHCO, they had the M.8 as you’re well aware, and that is a, that is a popular model. Oh, one moment please. Thatโs a very popular model. Well, they’re coming out with a new model called the R.6, and we just ordered it for our California showroom, it should be in there next, or this week, it’s ready for pick up this week. That is a stronger chair than the OHCO M.8. So, the OHCO M.8 is a very beautifully designed chair. It has the side doors, youโve probably seen them open, seen pictures of them open. That chair is a beautiful chair, a big chair, but the massage is a more, maybe a little bit more gentle, more soothing massage. The R.6, like the Cirrus, the D.Core Cirrus, has a strong roller massage from what I remember, and we’re looking forward to have that option. The same kind of design and quality engineering as the OHCO M.8, but with the, it doesnโt have the headpiece with the airbags pushing down and the rollers in the headpiece. It has a more traditional type of massage format, or roller massage format. It’s an L-track, but it will have a much stronger massage. So, anyway, those are some of the newer ones we’ve seen come out.
[SCREEN TEXT: Furniture Market in Las Vegas Next Week]
Alan: By the way, I’m going to be at the Furniture Market next week, on the 29th, and I’ll be visiting Osaki there. They’re going to be there, and they have a new version of the Maestro coming out, a version two. I will be visiting Synca, who are introducing a new model, and I will be visiting Cozzia, which is the same company as Ogawa and JPMedics, and we’ll check out and see what they all have cooking over there, and I’ll do some videoing of that too, and I’ll post that on the YouTube channel as well.
[SCREEN TEXT: 5 New Videos from CES on our YouTube Channel]
Alan: By the way, the visits I, my visit to CES last week, I broke it up in to five separate videos because when they were all combined it was like 40 minutes, and it’ll put everyone asleep, if not kill them. So, I broke it up in to five separate videos so it’s a little bit more palatable, little bite-sized portions, and I’ll do the same for Furniture Market next week. OK, also, and by the way, the CES is a madhouse. There are so many people there, so many vendors, so many companies from all over the world coming to sell their wares, and buyers from all over the world are there. It’s really quite an amazing, amazing thing, it’s the entire convention center, Las Vegas convention center, and then the Sands exposition hall. It actually takes up two, the CES takes up two different buildings to house all the vendors, but it’s really quite an experience. If I was there to look at all the different vendors, you couldnโt do it in one week that it’s there. I only go to see the massage chair companies, and I’m there a day-and-a-half, just trying to do that, and the few that I represent.
[SCREEN TEXT: OHCO M.8 Price Increase to $9999 on 2/1/2020]
Alan: OK, the M.8, the OHCO M.8, I just talked about it earlier, the price of that chair is going up to $6999, or sorry, $9999, on February 1st. It’s been $9499 since it came out a year ago, and now they’re bumping up the price. It is a popular chair, $9999 seems to be kind of the going price for a lot of chairs right now, like the Human Touch Super Novo, the Ogawa Master Drive AI, the Panasonic MAJ7, they’re all kind of creeping up a little higher and higher, and but they are good quality chairs, very good quality chairs, and the customer support’s fantastic too. And I’ve talked in the past about the $2000 chairs and the $1000 chairs versus these higher-end chairs, there are differences, and you can, I think on my last industry update, I talked about that, and you can listen to what I have to say about that, but there’s a place for both of them in our industry, but you get what you pay for. So, if you’re expecting, you know, $7000, $8000, $9000 service in a $1000 chair, you’re going to be very, very disappointed, or quality, for that matter. But there is a place for it, and people that have come in to the market that have not been able to afford a chair before, can now afford a chair, and albeit it a cheap one, but they can afford a chair now. So, anyway, I talk about that to quite some degree in the last video, and you can watch that to hear what I have to say about the lower-priced chairs and the current higher-end, more luxurious, higher quality chairs.
[SCREEN TEXT: Our Pre-Owned Directory has Great Floor Models and Returns Available]
Alan: OK, well, we have some good, OK, so holiday time, you know, Black Friday through Christmas, a very busy time for us, so we sell a lot of chairs, but we still have a certain percentage of returns, and so there are returns that come back, and we’ve got a bunch coming back, and I donโt, well, I’ll try to, I’ll tell you what we’ve got coming. I’ve only got, I think, three up on the website now because they come back, and then we inspect them. If there’s any problem with a chair, we repair them and fix them up, but then we put them, and then we sell them, and put them up on the pre-owned directory. And so far, we’ve got, let me just show you what we’ve got. Right now, on the website, we’ve got our floor-model Ekon, from our California showroom, thatโs regularly a $7999 chair, and we’re selling it for $4999. We’re selling a, we have a returned JPMedics Kumo, a very popular chair, regularly $7999 and we’re selling it for $5499, that is a two-month-old Cappuccino one. And we’re selling a brand-new Osaki Admiral for $3299. We had ordered three for a customer, but he needed one that could handle a taller body, and so he kind of cancelled one order after we’d already got it shipped to our Arizona showroom, and we got him a Titan Jupiter, which is a taller chair, built for taller bodies. It’s called the Jupiter XL for a reason. Anyway, so I have this brand-new Infinity Admiral, or sorry, Osaki Admiral, which is $4399 regularly, and we’re selling it for $3299, and it hasnโt even been opened, it’s a brown one. But that speaks to some of the chairs we have in there right now, and as far as other chairs we’ve got, I’ll tell you what we’ve got coming back. We’ve got an Ogawa Active L, that will be back soon. We’re having a Super Novo, or not the Super Novo, sorry, we have a Smart Chair X3 from Infinity coming back. We’ve got an Ogawa Master Drive AI, a Panasonic MA73, and an Ogawa Refresh Plus. All those chairs are coming back. I don’t know what the prices are going to be yet, but and these are all chairs that are anywhere from one to two months old, and wonderful deals. So, if you’re looking for great deals, and youโve been patiently waiting for stuff to show up, this is a great opportunity to get some good deals because we always sell our pre-owned chairs at a very, very good price. So, keep an eye on our pre-owned directory, it’s on the website.
[SCREEN TEXT: Osaki Sale on First Class and Alpina]
Alan: Alright, the Osaki First Class, the price, the regular price on that chair is $7999, and they had it on sale for $4999. They have dropped the price again to $4999, the price went back up again after Christmas, and now thatโs coming back down again to $4999. The Osaki First Class is a good chair, and a very, very strong massage. We have it in our Arizona and our California showrooms. You’re welcome to go try them out there, if you’re in that area. Of course, if you’re coming in from Massachusetts, you know, you donโt just pop by to try out one or two chairs, but if you’re coming to LA, or Utah, or Arizona, we’ve got some good chairs there for you to try out. But anyway, I just wanted to let you know that the First Class is on sale for $4999. And the Osaki Alpina, which is usually, I think, $4299, and it’s on sale for $2999, and you get a free two-year extended warranty, I think also, with those. So, Osaki has a little sale going on. There are some, I think you get free, well, anyway, I can’t remember.
[SCREEN TEXT: Ogawa Sale – Free Extended Warranty]
Alan: Ogawa’s got a sale right not too, it’s not a price drop, but it’s you get a free extended warranty with those chairs as well. OK, oh yeah, thatโs what it was, all of the Ogawa chairs have a free extended warranty. Thatโs just for the month of January, so you know, we’re getting close to the end of the month, so if you want to get any of those deals, go for it. I think the Osaki deal is good for January and February, and I think thatโs just about it for this week. It’s kind of, in a way the business has quieted down a lot, but then things start to pick up because of all the sales through the holiday season, we start getting more calls, more you know, customer inquiries about chairs that they bought, we get returns, we get, we just, it’s still fairly busy, but it’s we’re kind of getting, it’s slowing down a little bit. And it’s a good time to call and get the information you need from us. We’re always available, and you know, donโt ever hesitate to call. We’re always available, either myself or Michael, or Shawn, or Melody, or Dominic, we’re here to help you in any way that we can.
[SCREEN TEXT: Please “Thumbs Up” Like This Video!!]
Alan: But anyway, I hope you found this video helpful. If you did, please feel free to thumbs up ‘Like’ us on our YouTube channel, and of course, by all means, call or chat with us, or whatnot, if you have any questions. If you found this video helpful, please feel free to, you know, share it with friends and family through your various and sundry social media networks. We appreciate you helping us spread the word about massage chairs. Well, I’m Dr. Alan Weidner from ‘Massage-Chair-Relief.com,’ and I will see you again in two weeks. Bye bye.
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