Daily News Archive
Brought to you by Home Furnishings Business
Inada Massage Chairs Makes Permanent Home in Showplace
September 27,
2012 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in High Point on September 28, 2012
Inada Massage Chairs has leased a permanent showroom in Showplace for the Oct. 13-18 High Point Furniture Market.
The company, the exclusive U.S. distributor for the Inada line of high-end therapeutic massage chairs produced by Family Inada in Japan, will show in a 2,000-square-foot showroom in Space 5300. The Boulder, Colo.-based company has exhibited on an occasional basis in the High Point Plaza Hotel and other locations, but this marks its first permanent High Point showroom. Its lease runs until 2016.
Weve been growing rapidly over the past few years, but much of that growth has been in the West, said Cliff Levin, CEO. We have an active presence at the Las Vegas Market, which helps us stay in touch with Western retailers, and a well-established base of national back-specialty chains, but we realized there was a broad swath of retailers in the East that we havent been reaching. The High Point Market provides a strong platform for communicating with this new group.
Levin added that Showplace is the perfect match for the Inada brand: Its a beautiful building that is very easy for retailers to work. The mix of products and prices makes it a good fit for us.
At the October market, Inada is focusing its sales effort on the popular Inada Sogno DreamWave massage chair priced at $7,799 retail and other best sellers. The Sognos optical sensors scan the users back and then create a totally customized Shiatsu-type massage. The model offers eight preprogrammed massage sequences as well as manual settings for precise, personalized adjustments.
Inada Massage Chairs currently distributes its line through a mix of contemporary furniture specialists and other independent furniture stores, consumer electronics stores and back specialty stores such as Relax the Back and the Healthy Back Store. It also has some distribution among bedding specialists.
To build demand for its products, Inada advertises in national publications such as the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Atlantic Monthly, and it also has a regular spot in the SkyMall publication distributed to airline passengers.
We are a niche player, said Levin. We want to work with quality retailers who understand luxury products like ours and how to sell their benefits--elements such as comfort and health. We offer our partners a proven, salable product, with great margin opportunities.
Along with introducing retailers to its current best sellers, Inada also will show the new True Zero Gravity line of recliners from Positive Posture at market, priced at $1,999 to $3,499.
Also featured in the Inada showroom during market will be the Roland Simmons line of floor lamps.
Retailers who place orders on the Positive Posture line--or first movers into the land of True Zero Gravity, as Levin describes them--will receive special market pricing.
We are thrilled that Inada has chosen to step up its High Point presence," said Julie Messner, vice president of leasing for International Market Centers. "They recognize the importance of being part of the worlds leading home furnishings market.