Johnson Health Tech Co (喬山), the No. 3 fitness equipment maker in the world, yesterday said sales of its new massage chair would be 20 times as high as its previous model, as the company has a global rollout plan for the new product this time.
The company aims to sell 40,000 units of its latest massage chairs a year, up from 2,000 units a year for its predecessor, which is sold only in Taiwan, Harry Tsai (蔡慶裕), president of the company’s wellness business unit, said at the launch ceremony.
The new chair features an ability to mimic the rhythm of a massage conducted by human hands and an emphasis on foot massage, Tsai said.
The company sold its previous massage chair in Taiwan through a coooperation with Japan’s Fuji Medical Instrument Manufacturing Co and marketed the product under the brand Fujiiryoki.
However, the company is marketing its latest model under its own brand and expects sales of the new product in Taiwan to reach 4,000 units a month, Tsai said.
The new product, which is made in Johnson’s plant in China, is priced at between NT$108,000 and NT$128,000 (US$3,554 and US$4,210) per unit, lower than the NT$168,000 to NT$198,000 per unit for the prevous model, which was manufactured in Japan, he said.
As for the company’s global marketing plan, Johnson Health Tech has signed an one-year contract with Human Touch LLC, which produces and markets massage chairs in the US and Canada, to distribute the new product in the two countries, Tsai said.
Johnson Health Tech has sent a sample of the product to Human Touch, which will fine-tune the product to meet the preference of customers there, he said.
“The new product will allow us to have a larger share of the global massage chair market, which is US$4 billion a year, with most of the value in the Asian market,” Tsai said. “We hope the market will be another growth engine for Johnson, in addition to the fitness equipment market.”
The global market for home use segment fitness equipment is worth about US$4 billion a year, while the global market for commercial use fitness equipment is about US$2.3 billion a year, Tsai said.
Johnson Health Tech’s revenue is expected to reach US$600 million this year, with US$20 million likely coming from sales of massage chairs and US$580 million from fitness equipment, he said.
Last year, Johnson Health Tech reported revenue of nearly US$502 million, with sales of massage chairs contributing between US$14 million and US$15 million, up from US$10 million in 2012, company data show.
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