Transcript of Video Titled “Massage Chair Industry Update – March 16, 2017”
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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 Thursday, March 16th, 2017. We’ve got a number of things to go over today, so let’s get right in to it.
[SCREEN TEXT: Stock Status]
Alan: OK, out of stock, the Novo XT, which has become a very popular-selling chair โ it’s the 3D L-track chair from Human Touch โ that chair is low on supply, and apparently, they’re supposed to be getting replenished either at the tail end of this month, I believe the tail end of this month, we should be getting more supply. But there is stock around, but it’s very low, so if you’re interested in that Novo XT, go ahead and get the bloody thing now before you’re out of stock again. I might also add that we recorded introduction and first-time use videos for the Novo XT. Those should be out next week, on the website, at least the intro will. We really like that chair, it kind of has a unibody construction, and it looks like a singular unit. It has the 3D L-track, which is quite comfortable. You can adjust the intensity. I read one of the reviews on my site about the chair, saying that you cannot adjust the intensity of the rollers in the auto programs, but you can. You just go to the settings, and go down to โ yeah, go on to the menu, and click the ‘Settings’ button, and then there will be an ‘Intensity Adjustment’ button there for anywhere from one to five setting โ five being the most intense. So, yes, you can adjust the intensity of that, the depth of the rollers on the Novo XT in auto and manual settings. Also, the ZeroG 5.0 has been back-ordered โ oh, thatโs supposed to be in mid-March โ so that should be in this week.
[SCREEN TEXT: Human Touch Navitas Sleep Discontinued – But Stock Still Available]
Alan: The Human Touch Navitas has been discontinued. I like that chair, it had the rollers that went up and down the calves, the only chair of its kind like that, and it had 36 programs, and the people that bought it from me really loved the chair. I’m a little disappointed to see it go, but that has been discontinued, and there’s still 30 units left. I’m not sure what color, I think it’s the ‘Light Brown’ color, but there is some stock left, but as soon as that stock is gone, the chair is done. Let’s see, what else have we got cooking, as far as stock goes? I think thatโs pretty much it for stock.
[SCREEN TEXT: Ogawa Sale Still on Until 04/04/17]
Alan: The Ogawa sale, where they’re offering $500 off on the Smart 3D, $250 off on the Active, and $200 off on the Refresh, I believe, that sale is being extended again until April 4th. So, if those are chairs that interest you, go ahead and give it an order. If you live in Southern California, we have that Ogawa Smart 3D on display in our showroom in Southern California, and you can go try it out. It’s a nice chair, it’s a firm massage, it’ll fit, you know, tall and short folks alike, but kind of the standout feature of that chair is the Samsung tablet that connects to the chair through Bluetooth connectivity, and so thatโs kind of a neat thing. You kind of, it’s like using your own, like just your iPad, or tablet, to run the chair, it’s kind of cool. But anyway, that sale is still going on.
[SCREEN TEXT: Inada Nest Now on our Site – Available 04/01/17]
Alan: Now, something thatโs kind of โ oh, we added the Inada Nest to our website โ the Inada Nest, if you’ll remember from my video from the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas, back in January, early January, Inada had introduced this new model called the Nest, and I really like chair. It looks like the Flex 3s, and it looks like the DreamWave, kind of a hybrid between the two. And it has full arm massage, like the DreamWave does, but what makes this chair kind of unique is that is has โ OK, chairs that have quad rollers, four rollers, those four rollers work in concert on pretty much every chair โ on the Inada Nest, the left and right are independent of each other, so the rollers on the right can adjust to the spinal tension on the right, the spinal muscle tension, and the ones on the left can adjust to the tension on the left side, so it kind of has this independent suspension, you know, like a car, two and two, and they call that ‘3D LR’ rollers, and it’s a pretty cool feature. I’m not sure I was in the chair long enough, when I sat in it at the show, to really be able to differentiate and sense the difference, but it’s a pretty cool feature on paper, and I think it’s going to help people. Especially folks, maybe that have scoliosis, or some curvature of the spine where โ because when you have a curvature of the spine, when you’re looking at someone and theyโve got a curvature โ some muscles are going to be hypertonic, or tight, others are going to be stretched, and some are going to be flaccid, some are going to be spastic, but I think that LR, the left and right independent suspension, if you will, adjusting of that 3D roller, is going to be beneficial, especially to folks like that. The other thing thatโs kind of cool about that chair is it has the rollers โ what’s the word, it’s like corrugated, or something โ it’s got ridges, it’s a round roller, but instead of a smooth roller, like all the other chairs have, it has like pumpkin, like a pumpkin, it kind of reminds me of a pumpkin, and it has ridges, and that goes up and down your spine and adds a little bit to the intensity of the massage, but I really noticed it in the shoulders. Like at the top of the shoulders, where the levator scapula is, I really found that to be quite a good massage. The Nest is a more intense massage, probably the most intense of any of the Inada chairs I’ve used in the recent memory. Back in the old days, they had the iRobotics โ or no, sorry, not iRobotics, I’m getting mixed up โ they had the Robo, Robo something or other, the D5 and the D6, those chairs were kind of intense, but they discontinued those years ago, and the DreamWave, the YuMe, the Flex 3s, and now this chair, have been kind of the new generation of Inada massage chairs, and this one is the most intense of them. The Flex 3s is very gentle, and it’s not great for taller bodies, because the massage won’t hit your neck. The DreamWave is also a more mild massage chair, but a very nice massage, very sophisticated rollers, roller system, but the Nest just seems to dig in a little bit deeper, the default massage is definitely more intense. So, the Inada Nest, bottom line, what I’m getting to with all this yikking and yakking is that the chair is on our website, and you can go see the images, you can read up on the feature set, and kind of start to become a little familiar with it. It comes out April 1st, we will have it in our showrooms, but anyway, I would think that this would be a good chair to check out. The price on it going to be โ is it $6499, I think it’s $6499 โ but I’ll confirm that.
[SCREEN TEXT: Extended Warranty Purchase Beyond 30 Days for Inada & Luraco]
Alan: OK, what else have we got cooking? Oh, the extended warranties. I have learned just over the last month that both Inada and Luraco are offering extended warranties on their chairs past 30 days. For most massage chairs, we’ve always understood that it would be a 30 day, you know, you’d have 30 days from the date of purchase to purchase the extended warranty, and Inada and Luraco both offer extended warranties beyond that time. However, it gets a little bit more expensive, a little bit more prorated โ not prorated, thatโs not the word I want to use โ but the longer you wait, the more it’s going to cost you. So, Luraco, for example, theyโve got, if you buy the warranty within the first year, it’s $395, which is the price on our website. If you buy it between one and two years, it’s $450, and if you buy it between two and three years, from the date of purchase, it’s $500. After three years, it’s not available. The catch here with this is that if you wait longer than a month, you can’t buy it from us, you got to buy it directly from Luraco. So, if you’re buying, let’s say you buy the chair new, and you want to, you decide like 60 days down the road, you know what, I’m going to get the extended warranty, you got to call Luraco for that. Within 30 days, you can get it from us. Inada, their extended is $450, but if you get it after 90 days, 91 days to a year, it’s $500. If you get it one to two years, it’s $525, if you get it two to three years, it’s $550. But the pricing aside, I think it’s pretty cool that you can get these extended warranties on these chairs. Now, again, some people may argue that the Chinese quality is just as good as the Japanese quality anymore, and I’ve heard that argument a few times, but you know, put your money where the mouth is, as they would say. If the chair is really that โ as some of these Chinese chairs are as good as the Japanese chairs, or the American chair โ go ahead and offer the extended warranty for up to three years after the date of purchase, or at the very least, jump up the warranty to at least two or three years. So, when that happens, then I think we’ll really understand that maybe the Chinese chairs have got to that point where they’re as good in quality as the Japanese or the American chairs. But thatโs just an editorial, thatโs my opinion, thatโs not anything to take to the bank, thatโs just what my gut feeling is on it, or my feeling is on it.
[SCREEN TEXT: Pre-Owned Massage Chair Directory]
Alan: OK, well, I guess the โ oh, always, you know what, I get a lot of people โ we get returned chairs, and of course, over the last three months, we’ve gotten quite a few because we sell a ton at Christmas, and Black Friday through Christmas, and there’s always a certain percentage of returns. I can’t even remember what the percentage is, it’s very, very low, but the more chairs you sell, based on that percentage, you’re going to get more chairs coming back, and so when we get a returned chair, we put it on our website, on our pre-owned directory, and you can see that on our website. It’s on our navigation bar, under the title of ‘Pre-Owned,’ and you can see what chairs we have that are coming back, or that have come back, and they’re anywhere from a month to three months old. Right now, we’ve got a black Luraco thatโs three months old, and it’s in perfect condition. It was a local customer that owned it, and so it didnโt travel very far to come back to us. The chair retails for $8490, for those of you that know massage chairs, and know the iRobotics 7 from Luraco, this chair, the used one is going for $6990. But what I wanted to tell you is that we have this pre-owned directory, and if you want to get a get a good deal on a chair, and I sell these chairs at a very discounted rate, because I donโt want to keep a bunch of returned chairs in my showroom. I want to get rid of these babies, so we sell them at a very, very good price. This one’s $1500 off, usually they’re $1000 to $1500 off. Anyway, check it out, but donโt like, donโt think ‘Oh, you know, maybe I’ll take a look in a month from now, and see what theyโve got.’ You might want to check regularly, because if the chair’s there, like this Luraco we just put up yesterday, this chair will probably be gone in another day. And if other chairs go up, we had an Infinity IT-8500X3, it was up, I put it up in the morning, and we sold it in the afternoon, so be vigilant. If you really are serious about a massage chair, and you want to get a good deal on a like-new chair that has the full warranty minus one to three months, watch the pre-owned directory, because you’ll figure out what the crap’s going on pretty quick, as far as getting a good deal. And if you miss it, if you snooze, you lose, as they say.
[SCREEN TEXT: Return Policies – Buyer Beware!]
Alan: OK, and then finally, I want to make sure I’ve got everything else covered here, finally, I just want to talk a little bit about return policies. I believe I’ve talked about this before, and but it keeps coming up. Return policies can vary anywhere from seven days, I saw one company that offers a seven-day return policy, and it can go up as many as 90 days, which is what we have. And some companies will say free-return shipping, which mean that they’re going to charge you somewhere else, maybe for the original shipping, or whatever. Some will charge you processing fees. Anyway, and I think I just talked about this recently, for heaven’s sake, but what I’m just going to tell you to do is when you are looking to buy a chair, make sure you understand the return policy of the retailer from whom you are buying the chair, make sure you understand it. If it’s a real ambiguous return policy like ‘Yeah, free returns,’ you know, red flag, because I’ll tell you, I promise you, if it says free returns, they are going to ding you, one way or the other, either with restocking fees, or the original shipping fees, and so you’re going to be paying probably $250, $200 to $250 anyway, and theyโll get you. You’re going to get dinged one way or the other. I just updated my free report to talk about this, because people will get chapped, because they think that it’s going to be free this, free that, and then, you know, when the rubber hits the road, they’re, you know, they’re getting dinged royally, and sometimes 25, 30%, sometimes even more, maybe 40%. So, just buyer beware, be very, very careful when you’re buying a chair from a retailer, whether it’s us, or whoever, make sure theyโve got a very descript return policy, to make sure that the questions are answered. My return policy has evolved over the years, because someone will bring up a point, like ‘Well, what about this?’ or ‘What about that?’, and I hadnโt thought about that. So, we make amendments to our return policy continually, so our return policy is a very living, breathing document, and you can see it on our website, but it tries to cover everything, so there’s no questions. Like, you might look at mine and go ‘Gee, thatโs a little complicated.’ Well, you know what, I’ll tell you what’s more complicated, having a real simple return policy, and then getting dinged up the ying yang for, you know, $200 to $500 without even knowing that you’re going to be paying that. So, I’m just telling you to be careful and beware, but thatโs enough of that. Anyway, thatโs about it for this week.
[SCREEN TEXT: Luraco Legend Update]
Alan: We are going to be putting up the uKnead Lohas within the next month, and oh, as far as the Luraco Legend goes, that chair is still on course for the end of the third quarter. They said third quarter originally, now recently, I just talked, this week, to them, and they said it’s going to be the end of the third quarter, and so I’m going to just be conservative, and say fourth quarter, in time for Christmas. But that is the chair that has the 3D L-track, with a 58-inch roller track, and 3D adjustments on various segments of the spine, not just full 3D. It’s 3D in the neck, or 3D in the midback, you can adjust it separately, or in the low back, or hips. So, anyway, just be aware of that chair, if you’re still interested in that chair, and you’re holding out for it, I don’t know how it’s going to feel when it comes out. I sat on the prototype at CES, and it was cool, but we’ll see how the final product is in, you know, at the end of the year.
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Alan: But anyway, if you have any questions about this, or anything else I’ve talked about, please feel free to give me a call, I’m always available.
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Alan: And of course, if you found this video helpful, please feel free to thumbs up ‘Like’ us on our YouTube channel, and of course, share us on your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Plus, whatnot. Any social media platform you’re on, 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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