Transcript of Video Titled “Massage Chair Industry Update – January 26, 2016”

Alan: Hi, this is Dr. Alan Weidner from ‘Massage-Chair-Relief.com’ and today is Tuesday, January 26th, 2016, and it’s time for our biweekly massage chair industry update.

[SCREEN TEXT: Stock Status]

Alan: First of all, as far as stock goes, I will tell you that the ‘Black’ iRobotics 7 is finally in stock. They came in yesterday, and they will be shipping out this week, and so if you want an iRobotics 7, let me know. That is a very popular chair, a very good chair, we’ve really enjoyed some success with that chair, the customers seem to like it. The company is very, very attentive to the customers’ needs. I’m very impressed with their customer support. Anyway, that’s a little editorial on the side of the stock notification. Also, I will tell you that the Infinity Escape is still back-ordered for another two to three weeks. The estimated time of arrival of that chair is February 15th. Now, that has been a popular chair too, even though it just came out. It’s an L-track for $2995, but a very nice chair, awesome foot rollers on it, but that chair, when they imported their first shipment back in December, it sold fast. Now, we have our showroom model, so if you have any questions, you can call us, and the boys at the showroom can give you all the information on the chair, and their experience of it, it’s a very nice chair, very nice chair. It compares very favorably to the Apex Ultra, and in some ways, better than the Apex Ultra, with – and I will be writing a review, a comparative review of those two chairs in the very near future – but take a look at that Titan Alpine, or sorry, not Titan Alpine, that Infinity Escape chair.

[SCREEN TEXT: Inada DreamWave Price Increase 02/01]

Alan: Also, let’s see what else we’ve got cooking. Oh, the DreamWave price goes up February 1st to $8799. Now, it’s $8499, it’s amazing to me how this chair is – how popular this chair has been after so many years – it’s really an iconic model. It originally started as the Inada Sogno DreamWave back in ’08, when we first started carrying it, and then it – last year, a year ago September, so 2014, they increased, or they – sorry, they changed the model to the new DreamWave, and updated it, and it is still continuing to sell ridiculously. Of course, Inada’s done a masterful job of distributing the chair. They have the chairs in most of the Relax the Back stores, now in Brookstone, and some other – you know, local, and regional stores, they’re very – they’ve done a masterful job of marketing this chair, and it is a wonderful chair. It’s a Japanese model, in case you’re wondering, it’s not all made in Japan, but the vast majority of it is manufactured in Japan, but it is a very nice chair. It’s kind of like the Luraco is with, they say it’s an American-made chair, even though components of it come from Taiwan, but over a certain percentage, I think it’s over 69%, or 61%, something like that, of the manufacturing, that in that country can be considered made in America, or in this case, made in Japan, even though some of the DreamWave parts are made in China. But a wonderful chair, it’ll give you 15+ years, it’s got a less than 1% failure rate, a three year, parts-and-labor warranty, great chair. Anyway, that chair is in stock, but the price is going up February 1st to – and that’s next Monday – up to $8799, unbelievable, but just so that you’re aware of that.

[SCREEN TEXT: TechTouch vs. IT-8500]

Alan: The TechTouch chair, I had a question about TechTouch, I guess TechTouch is a chair that they carry, I think at Brookstone, or somewhere, it’s kind of a – it’s an imported model from a similar factory – or if not the same factory, as the IT-8500 from Infinite Therapeutics. I don’t understand exactly – I don’t know much about their customer support – I would venture to guess that the customer support through TechTouch is not nearly as good as the Infinity customer support. So, I would encourage you to take a look at the Infinity IT-8500 if you are looking at the TechTouch, and I emailed my guy over there at Infinity to ask him what the differences were, or how similar they were. He says they are similar, but the stretch is superior on the IT-8500, they have different armrests, and arm airbags, and the programming, and the foot rollers are different on the IT-8500. And I will tell you that the IT-8500 is our top selling Chinese chair, and that chair has been around for five years, four, or five years. It’s a very popular chair, priced right, great features, the stretch is one of the top features of that chair, and the neck and shoulder massage is phenomenal, and the foot rollers are fantastic. Everybody loves it, and it just kind of fits right, you know, when you sit in it, it just fits right. Some chairs, you can sit in it, and it just doesn’t quite feel right, and I’ve had a number of those chairs in my day too, but the IT-8500, just is a good, overall fit, and for a great price. Also, so anyway, basically, the reason I told you this is because I’ve had some questions about the TechTouch chair, or Touch Tech, or whatever it’s called, versus the IT-8500, so that’s my input on that.

[SCREEN TEXT: Kahuna = Apex Ultra]

Alan: I’ve had a few calls about the Kahuna chairs, which, they’re out of California. It’s a newer, it’s a new chain, or a new line of chairs, I don’t know much about them, they’re – I still consider them a no-name brand, because we don’t know much about them at all, and we don’t have of a much track record on their – on how their chairs sell. I do know that their model, one of their primary models, is the exact same chair as the Apex Ultra from Osaki/Titan. And if you remember, a number of months ago, when I talked about the price change on the Apex Ultra, I was told, at that time, that there was another company that, mistakenly, had gotten rights to sell that Apex Ultra, here in the United States. And so, Infinity – or Apex, originally priced that chair, or Titan – Osaki/Titan originally priced the Apex Ultra at $4395. Well, then they dropped it down to $2995, so that they could remain very, very competitive, regardless of this other company coming in. So, this Kahuna model – I don’t remember which one it is, this is the same model, essentially exact – well, from what I understand, pretty much exactly the same model as the Apex Ultra, but it’s priced quite a bit higher, and that Apex Ultra is $2995. You can’t beat it, the folks at Osaki/Titan were smart to do that, because they wanted to nip the competition in the bud, and I think they’ve done that.

[SCREEN TEXT: 18 Month, 0% Interest Financing 02/01 – 02/16]

Alan: Anyway, also, let’s see, the 18-month financing, periodically, from time to time, throughout the year, we offer 18-months financing, because Synchrony Bank lowers the processing fees from like 10%, down to 5%, or 6%, and that – one of those times is coming up during Presidents’ Day, I don’t have the form here, I have it in my briefcase at home, but I – it’s usually for a week. It’s seven, eight days, around that event, so Presidents’ Day, and on my next update, I’ll mention that, what the dates for the 18-month financing are. Otherwise, we still have 6 and 12-months financing, all throughout the year, through Synchrony Bank.

[SCREEN TEXT: Where Chairs Are Manufactured Really …]

Alan: Also, I alluded to this a little bit earlier, and I’m going to be writing a blog post about this, but there has been a lot of questions and concerns about where chairs are made, where we are told they are made, and where they are actually made. I alluded to this earlier with talking about the DreamWave, and the Luraco. For example, the Luraco iRobotics 7 is made in the USA. By definition, it is made in the USA, and that definition, as I mentioned, is a numbers ratio, of how much is made in the United States, and how much is made in another country, and in this case, Taiwan, which makes very good quality chairs, and components. Then, there’s chairs like the Inada DreamWave, which are made in Japan, but a portion of them are made – a portion of the components are made in China, and imported there to Japan, but it’s more of that – enough of that ratio, to justify it being called made in Japan. And then, you’ve got chairs like Fujiiryoki, and Osaki, the Osaki OS-4D JP Premium, that chair is a Fujiiryoki chair, and those are made 100% in Japan, and I checked that with Osaki, to make sure that that model was 100% made in Japan, and yes, it is. The Fujiiryoki is really the only chair 100% made in Japan. And then, you’ve got chairs like the Navitas Sleep, which is a chair made by Johnson Wellness, and Human Touch together, and it is made with – it has Japanese engineering and design, the components are made in Taiwan, but the chair is assembled in China. So, it’s considered made in China, even though the components are made in Taiwan, and the design and engineering is done in Japan. Great chair, by the way, and now Osaki carries another Johnson chair, and they call it the Apex Regent, and that Apex Regent used to be made in Japan – well, used to be made in Taiwan, when it was the old Johnson J6800 – if you remember, we carried that chair, or sorry, the J5800, we used to carry that chair. Well, that Regent now, is still designed and engineered in Japan, but they’re not made in Taiwan anymore, and now they’re made 100% in China. And then, the Panasonic chair, the Panasonic chair is designed and engineered in Japan, but it is now made in factories in China that are owned by Panasonic. So, they’re Panasonic-owned factories in China, that make that chair, so it is, on the box, you’ll see ‘Made in China.’ So, it is confusing, it is – and then you’ve got chairs that have Japanese names – that you think are made in Japan, but they’re not. For example, Osaki, or the Iyashi, these chairs sound like Japanese chairs, but they are really Chinese chairs, with a Japanese name. So, if I’ve confused you, mission accomplished, but no, I didn’t mean to confuse you, but I – this is a big deal – like, there’s a company that has advertised one particular chair, that is made in one particular country, and they say it’s 100% made in that country, and it is not made in that country 100%. So, a lot of people felt deceived by that, and we’ve had calls about that, since we opened our store in California, we’ve had some feedback in California about that. But it’s important that you understand where chairs are made, and if you have any question, call me, and if I have any question, we will call the massage chair company, and find out for sure, as they would say, straight from the horse’s mouth. Well, I think that’s just about it, eh? I’m heading back down, on Thursday, to the store in California, to record some videos. I went a month ago to record some videos, but we’re so busy with customers, that I never got around to recording any videos, and I’m going to try to this time, because we’ve got new chairs there: the Human Touch ZeroG 5.0; we’ve got the Navitas Sleep, from Human Touch; we’ve got the new Infinity Escape; we’ve got the Titan Executive; we’ve got the, oh, the Ogawa Refresh, and the Ogawa Active. We’ve got a lot of new models in that California store, and I’ve got record videos, and I haven’t gotten around to it, but I plan on doing it this Thursday, and Friday, when I get up there, and then, we will post those, of course, on our YouTube channel, and talk – and write reviews about them on our blog – but that’s just about it. The last review I wrote was on the Escape, the Infinity Escape. Read it if you’d like, it’s helpful, I think it helps you understand a little bit more about the chair, and its features, that are so popular. But if you have any questions, feel free to give me a call at 888-259-5380. You can see the phone number, right there. Oh my heavens, there, can I complicate that any more for you? And of course, you can always comment, or visit with me, on our Facebook page, or our YouTube channel, or on our chat feature on our website. And by the way, if you found this video helpful, please feel free to thumbs up ‘Like’ us on YouTube, and of course, share us on all your social media platforms, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Plus, Facebook, whatnot, we just appreciate you helping us spread the word about massage chairs. So, I’m Dr. Alan Weidner from ‘Massage-Chair-Relief.com,’ and I will see you again in two weeks. Thanks. Bye bye.

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