With so many massage chair brands and private labels in the market, it is no wonder buyers can get overwhelmed by the choices. Selecting a good massage chair brand for your purchase will save you a lot of hassle should you require technical support or even product advice. A good brand sees you as a client and partner rather than just a paying customer. As a massage chair specialist in Singapore since 2011, we came up some tips to note in your search. Be a smart shopper!
1. Reputation and Professionalism
Brands that are well established have good reasons to thrive and survive in a competitive market. Brands that have been around for years have experience in the procuring good quality materials and provide a selection of products that are well sought after by consumers.
2. Credibility and reviews
With so many things to consider in purchasing a massage chair, an omni-channel approach is the smart thing to do. Check out the brand reviews on Google and cross reference with user reviews on social media as well as on the different e-commerce platforms such as Shopee or Lazada. Consumer forums can be a good and impartial source of user reviews as well. A relatively unknown brand might offer an unbelievably low price and a promise of warranty, but with no track record, you may be left with no recourse should the massage chair break down. After all, a massage chair can be a pricey investment and one should pay heed to do your own due diligence.
3. After-sales support
The true test of a product is how well the item will fail. Why pay for the hassle of jumping through hoops just to speak with the technical support desk, or worse, getting no pick up at the other end of the line. Consider the ease of getting the help you need when you encounter problems. Very often, buyers get suckered into purchasing a low priced item from an overseas seller with no local technical support.
Pro tip:💡 Try looking for and calling the hotline to have a sense of the response and service level.
4. Sales method
Sick and tired of sales gimmicks? So are we! We call them the ‘hook’ and ‘s(t)inker’ sales tactics.
Brands may employ a ‘hook’ – advertising and using a low price product to lure potential customers, only to have them be sold a higher priced ‘upgraded’ model. The goal is to hook and reel in the customer to pay for the model with fatter margins for the seller rather than offer a product that is more suitable or functional. These sellers might also resort to deep discounts and hard-sell tactics to chase sales and hit their KPIs. The end result is an incredibly stressful retail experience and a much lighter wallet.
Reputable brands do not usually employ hard-sell tactics and prefer to work with customers to identify their needs and offer product advice accordingly. The focus is to create a customer-centric retail experience that facilitate the decision to purchase a product that meet one’s needs.
In the ‘s(t)inker’ method, sales staff are trained to use ‘trade-in’ sales gimmicks such that the high listed price instantly ‘sinks’ and becomes more palatable once the potential client displays some indication to walk away from the deal. Such opaque pricing models used to be the norm, however, e-commerce has made pricing clearer and fairer.
Some brands may even offer a 10 year warranty to unsuspecting customer, only to have them commit to added maintenance fees and caveats to exclude certain damages from the warranty coverage. The stinker comes in the form of high labour charges or spare part costs hidden from unsuspecting buyers. As such, always quiz the sales person on their warranty policies and after sales service fees, especially after the initial warranty period.
5. Price = Quality?
You might have heard of the veritable iron triangle. A brand that is obsessed about cutting corners might play into the ‘value-for-money’ consumer mindset of lower prices. However, a cost premium is usually attributed to such brands by having lower quality products and poor after sales service. One might pay a lower price at the onset, but sometimes the hassle of having the product breakdown prematurely might be a bigger headache. After all, there are only so much cost savings to be eked out until service quality suffers.
Some lower end brands operate on a dropshipping model. These brands supply models that are an exact or close copy of models selling on overseas ecommerce platforms such as Taobao. Such models may perform to the desired functional level expected of a massage chair, however, they are often lacking in the safety aspects. The materials used may also not be suitable for local conditions or climates and can degrade prematurely. A note of caution; while these brands may operate a physical outlet, customers are none the wiser as to how their orders are fulfilled as stock are usually dropshipped to their doorstep from a warehouse overseas. Do use the AI camera function to check if a model is also selling on such overseas ecommerce platforms or marketplaces. You will be shocked to discover how many of the massage chair models in the market are an exact copy of models selling on such marketplaces.
6. Aesthetics and design
A massage chair is often placed in the living room. Do consider how it will blend in with your home decor and colour scheme. Most reputable brands have designs to cater to different decor styles and configurations.
7. Lead time
Reputable brands tend to have good networks with their supply chains to ensure stock availability. Usually, a massage chair order should take no more than 5 working days to be delivered to you. Occasionally though, there may be stock shortages due to seasonal demand.
However, for less reputable brands, stock availability can be spotty and long waiting times may ensue. Often, their stock is only shipped out from a cheaper overseas location with transit times taking as long as 2 weeks to a month to be delivered. Do factor such uncertainly into consideration. Sometimes, a low price can cause you more grief.
In an increasingly crowded market, a savvy shopper should adopt a caveat emptor approach when choosing a suitable massage chair brand to purchase from. We hope you will find this article useful in your massage chair purchasing journey. Chat with our friendly sales staff and experience our genuine service for yourself.
It's unwise to pay too much... BUT IT'S WORSE TO PAY TOO LITTLE.
