UK home appliance maker brings European innovation and design to Japan.
When his company began selling vacuum cleaners in Japan’s overcrowded market a decade ago, British entrepreneur James Dyson likened the venture to “selling coals to Newcastle”.
It is about time he thought of a new metaphor. Since arriving in Japan in 1998, the British firm has established itself as a leader in high-end vacuum cleaners, sparked a technological revolution and changed the way consumers view what was once considered the most humdrum of household gadgets.
Dyson’s stellar performance in Japan followed a rapid expansion in sales beyond its traditional territory in the UK, where a third of all households own one of its machines. In 2005, it overtook Hoover to become the market leader in the US. In 2008, about 80% of its cleaners were for export, compared with just 30% four years earlier.
When Dyson started selling its products in Japan in 1999, received wisdom had determined that the market was already saturated.
Dyson challenged that notion with a bold marketing campaign, often featuring its star founder, which for the first time highlighted cleaners’ performance, design and technological prowess.
Ten years on, Dyson has secured 13% of Japan’s vacuum cleaner market in terms of value, according to the research firm GfK Marketing Services Japan. It is number one in the premium segment (machines costing ¥40,000 and above) with a 38.5% share, and holds 22% of the market in handheld cleaners. It reached the milestone of 1 million units sold in Japan in 2007.
Dyson owes its success in Japan and 48 other countries to the vision and engineering acumen of its founder.
The industrial engineer is behind his company’s most successful innovation to date: cyclone technology that solved the age-old problem of vacuum cleaners losing their suction as they picked up dust.
The use of centrifugal force to suck up particles spelled the beginning of the end for the dust bag, at a time when the global market for cleaner-bag machines was worth US$500 million.
Using the same principle as the industrial cyclones he had seen at a sawmill in the UK, Dyson created vacuum cleaners that didn’t clog with dust, maintained powerful suction and could be emptied in seconds with the push of a button.
Fifteen years of failed attempts to sell his idea and more than 5,000 prototypes later, Dyson in 1993 launched the DC01, the world’s first vacuum cleaner without a bag. Within 18 months it was the best-selling cleaner in the UK.
The company began its Japan venture with logistical help from JETRO and the British Embassy, and at first employed fewer than 20 people. Now the operation boasts about 100 employees, and an office, showroom and call centre in the Hanzomon district of Tokyo.
Its breakthrough came in 2004 with the launch of the DC12, the firm’s first Japan-specific cleaner whose compact size and wrap-around hose for easy storage made it ideal for cramped homes.
Sales of the DC12 rose by 177% in the year to December 2005, bringing in earnings of ¥9.6 billion. Two years after its launch, it enjoyed brand recognition in Japan of around 60%.
“Before Dyson arrived in Japan, no one really took much notice of the make of their vacuum cleaner,” says Noriko Kohyama, the firm’s PR manager in Tokyo. “It wasn’t considered a sexy or luxury item. But because of Dyson, couples decide together what kind of cleaner they want, in much the same way as they choose other electrical products together.”
They have a huge choice now that rivals such as Sharp and Hitachi have confirmed that imitation is the highest form of flattery by releasing models incorporating versions of Dyson’s cyclone technology.
A Dyson purchase also comes with an impressive after-sales-care package: a two-year warranty and a freedial troubleshooting service that promises speedy repairs and replacement parts.
The cleaner heads are made of plastic rather than steel to prevent damage to tatami-mat floors, and its powerful suction has won over pet owners and allergy sufferers. Its more recent handheld versions clearly have the burgeoning retiree market in mind.
Maintaining its presence in Japan requires constant vigilance. In March 2009 Dyson released the DC26 cylinder cleaner, just after it suffered the shock of briefly relinquishing its spot at the top of the Japanese premium cyclone market to Sharp.
The cylindrical cleaner, a third of the size of previous machines and with the highest dust pick-up of any Dyson cleaner, was the culmination of intensive research.
Engineers spent two years studying the layout of Japanese homes, noting that not only were they smaller than those elsewhere, but also more likely to be filled with objects. Lightness and manoeuverability were of the essence.
“Japanese people really appreciate forward thinking technology that works better, hence the success of DC26,” says Dyson’s international managing director, Michael Ioakimides.
“Dyson engineers realised they needed to create a vacuum cleaner that was small, light and had high performance. And they couldn’t just shrink everything. They had to painstakingly compress and rebuild every single component to create the DC26.”
But Dyson’s emphasis on technology, style and performance would have come to little in Japan were it not for a willingness to enter uncharted territory. “Dyson’s company philosophy is about embracing risk,” says Ioakimides.
So far it has been one worth taking.