Trade-in war heats up in home healthcare appliances as Ceragem, Body Friend and Coway vie for upgrade customers

Ceragem runs trade-in promotion through Aug. 2, targeting upgrade demand for Master V7 and other flagship products

Body Friend and Coway join in; three-way battle takes shape in massage chair market

Competition in the massage chair and spinal medical device industry is intensifying around trade-in promotions. As demand from first-time buyers slows, Ceragem and Body Friend have expanded their trade-in programs to accept not only their own products but also rivals' devices, targeting customers looking to upgrade. Coway — the country's top rental appliance company — is now pushing aggressively into the massage chair market, turning what had been a two-horse race into a three-way contest.

Accepting rivals' products too — a bold play to pull customers into a maturing market

Industry sources said Tuesday that Ceragem is running a trade-in promotion through Aug. 2. Customers who return a healthcare appliance they currently own — regardless of brand — and purchase or subscribe to a Ceragem flagship product receive promotional benefits. The company is accepting consultations for its spinal medical devices, including the Master V7 2027, as well as its wellness appliance lineup.

During the same period, Ceragem is also running a "Family Sale" offering up to 40 percent off for purchasing customers, along with a package promotion giving a 15 percent discount when two products are contracted together. Customers who bundle three or more units receive a 20 percent discount. The strategy appears aimed at increasing the number of products owned per household by combining trade-in incentives with multi-unit purchase deals.

Body Friend has also turned to trade-ins as a strategic tool. Where it previously accepted only its own products for return, the company now takes back competitors' massage chairs and bed-type heating devices as well. The move reduces the hassle for consumers who would otherwise have to dispose of large, bulky items themselves, while drawing rival-brand customers toward Body Friend's new lineup.

Body Friend has previously run similar trade-in campaigns, offering purchase benefits to customers who return any massage chair or bed-type heating device regardless of brand or age. Because massage chairs are large and cumbersome to discard, the offer to collect the old unit serves as a purchase incentive on par with a price discount.

Coway's entry into the segment is another variable reshaping the market. The company launched its healthcare appliance brand Virex in late 2022 and entered the market in August the following year with the Pebble Chair, a furniture-style massage chair. It has since broadened its lineup to include a bed-type massage unit, a massage bed with upper-body reclining, and the Triple Chair — a product combining workchair, recliner and massage chair functions — challenging the market that Ceragem and Body Friend had long dominated.

Coway is leveraging the nationwide rental sales network it built around water purifiers, supplemented by its door-to-door sales force, to expand into massage chairs and massage beds. The company also officially runs a competitor trade-in discount program for customers who own a rival brand's massage bed or heating device. Body Friend and Ceragem have responded to Virex's advance by strengthening in-store experience spaces.

The intensifying trade-in competition reflects a view that the home healthcare market is approaching saturation, compounded by heightened rivalry following Coway's entry as a large rental operator. With massage chairs having established themselves as healthcare appliances for more than a decade, demand to replace aging units has grown. At the same time, the high price points typical of the massage chair segment mean that sluggish domestic consumption and tighter household budgets are constraining sales growth.

Some in the industry argue that trade-in programs serve a purpose beyond discounting — they are a means of acquiring competitor customer data. When a consumer who owned a rival's product switches through a trade-in, that customer may go on to purchase consumables, after-sales services and follow-on product subscriptions from the new brand.

Coway surges on door-to-door network; Ceragem and Body Friend dig in

Ceragem remains the industry leader in both revenue and profitability. The company posted consolidated sales of 549.79 billion won ($371 million) last year, up 0.7 percent from the prior year. Operating profit surged 1,091 percent to 25.75 billion won, and net profit for the period came in at 1.94 billion won, swinging to a profit. The popularity of its spinal medical device Master V Collection, along with an expanded lineup that includes alkaline ionized water generators, helped defend its earnings. Research and development spending also rose, from 18.9 billion won in 2023 to 24.2 billion won last year.

Body Friend posted consolidated sales of 422.6 billion won last year, down 3.3 percent from the prior year. Operating profit fell 49 percent to 11.5 billion won, and the company recorded a net loss of 5.9 billion won. A high exchange rate weighed on costs, while sluggish consumer spending and a maturing massage chair market added further pressure on earnings. Body Friend is betting on technology differentiation to turn things around, expanding a healthcare product lineup that applies robotics technology, including models with independently moving legs and arms.

Coway is riding its massage chair venture to record-breaking group-wide results. Virex in particular posted consolidated sales of 719.9 billion won last year, cementing its place as a new revenue engine for the company. Sales volume has grown 80 percent over three years. Coway's overall consolidated sales reached 4.96 trillion won last year, up 15.2 percent from the prior year, while operating profit rose 10.5 percent to 878.7 billion won — both all-time highs. Domestic rental unit sales reached 1.85 million, up 7.7 percent year on year, and bed business sales grew 15.4 percent to 365.4 billion won.

"Massage chairs and spinal medical devices are high-priced products with long usage cycles, so there is a limit to how much sales can grow on new customers alone," an industry official said. "With Coway joining the Ceragem-Body Friend duopoly, the competition to shorten replacement cycles and absorb rivals' customers through trade-in programs has turned into a genuine three-way fight."

hong@heraldcorp.com