Massage Recliners and Chairs See Steady Market Demand

As Chinese Father's Day—Aug. 8—approached, Taiwan's print media were filled with advertisements for electronic massage recliners or chairs as gifts for fathers. The advertisements claimed that the products were continuously enhanced in terms of function to provide a feeling of massage as comfortable as massage by human hands. Some advanced models were represented as having a warming function that reinforced the massage effect.

Sales of massage chairs have remained stable in recent years, and to take advantage of this steady market Panasonic, the Japanese electric appliance brand, announced the opening of a massage recliner store in Taipei just a couple of weeks prior to Chinese Father's Day. The products sold in the store are claimed to provide a combination of all massage chair functions in a single unit.

Industry Pioneer

Taiwan's own massage recliner and chair industry was born in the 1981, when the Tai Sheng Electrical Machinery Co. launched the island's first home-grown massage chair. Today, after more than 30 years of experience in design, production, and distribution, Tai Sheng offers a full line of massage furniture items and related devices under its own NEOX brand. In addition to its core massage recliner and massage chair products, the NEOX line covers a wide range of related items such as foot massagers, massage cushions, massage belts, facial massagers, healthcare massagers, pedicure SPA massage chairs, pedicure stools, nail salon pedicure equipment, and medical massagers.

Thanks to the efforts of its own R&D team, Tai Sheng claims to have launched over 100 models of massage furniture and devices.

In terms of structure, an electronic massage recliner is more like an electronic device than a furniture item, and requires manufacturing processes of much higher precision. To ensure safety and quality, Tai Sheng follows a division-of-labor policy under which different groups of workers carry out different manufacturing processes, from parts making and assembly to packing and testing.

As the pioneer of Taiwan's massage recliner and chair industry, Tai Sheng not only occupies a leading position in the home market but has also forged to the front in the international market, with a business network covering five continents. “We develop marketing channels to provide localized services,” commented a company representative.

Improved Relaxation Quality

The Double Gem Furniture Co., another major massage chair producer in Taiwan, evolved from a producer of mattresses that was established more than 20 years ago. While studying how to improve the comfort of its products, the company gradually developed massage functions for its mattresses and finally expanded into other massage furniture items like massage chairs and recliners.

Based on its research, the company believes that massage can help improve blood circulation and enhance the quality of relaxation and comfort.

Double Gem's massage recliner is designed to allow a wide range of back movement. The back can even be laid down, turning the recliner into a couch to lie on. A special design allows users to freely move their body on the recliner, and the air-gas device inside automatically fixes in place when the user stops moving his or her body. On some models, the seat can rotate 360 degrees and the wheeled base allows convenient and easy moving.

The Listore Co., another of Taiwan's major massager recliner and chair producers, plans to enhance its massage products by adding medical and beauty functions. In fact, as the company commented, health care and beauty care are two sides of the same coin—when a person improves his or her health, he or she becomes more attractive.

Marketing under its own “ST Life” brand, Listore aims for its massage furniture and devices to become common home equipment for health care.

In addition to massage recliners and chairs, Listore has also developed several models of massage cushions which are much more easy to use and store than the larger massage products. Each massage cushion performs the basic functions of rubbing, pressing, pushing, and pounding, with adjustable intensity, speed, and temperature.

The massage cushions come in two types, back cushion and seat cushion, which are suitable for use with any size or type of chair.

The company currently operates 12 integrated production lines for various types of massage equipment. Each stage of development and production, from 3D product design to production, assembly, wiring, packaging, testing, and delivery, is handled by professionally trained and dedicated personnel to ensure that all products meet international standards.

Listore has obtained various safety certifications for its massage recliners, chairs, cushions, and related devices, including UL/ETL of the U.S., CUL of Canada, TUV/GS of Germany, CE and RoHS of the European Union (EU), and PSE of Japan.

Market Newcomer

Gue-li Enterprise, which was established as an auto parts maker three decades ago, expanded its operations to cover massage chairs and cushions in recent years. Last year, after seven years of development, the company launched a new model of a wireless compact electric massage control panel exclusively for use with office chairs.

“With the wireless massage control panel, massage office chairs can be controlled without being restricted by cord length,” commented Gue-li's general manager, Tseng Chin-chun, who is also the company's chief designer. “It allows office chairs to be moved as freely as ordinary chairs.”

With the development of the compact massage control panel, Gue-li has moved into the manufacturing of massage office chairs on its own. The company carried out a successful launch of its massage chairs last year, and is now planning to develop other massage items like mattresses, cushions, and leisure chairs. The company has also introduced its own brand name, “KORICA,” for its massage products.