Dr. Michael Lee, the founder of Raycop, which created Japan’s futon vacuum cleaner market, has unveiled a new strategy for pursuing a renewed challenge in “slow aging” following reports of a health crisis.
Founder Michael Lee chose to develop the futon vacuum cleaner as a dedicated device for cleaning bedding, drawing on his experience treating allergy patients as a physician. In response to the large number of people affected by household dust and dust mites at the time, he created the product as a way to improve the living environment. Its origins lay not in a youthful idea, but in knowledge gained through his medical practice.
Raycop achieved cumulative domestic sales of 1 million units in approximately 2 years from the start of full-scale sales in Japan in February 2012. Sales exceeded 3 million units in May 2015, and cumulative domestic shipments surpassed 4.5 million units at the end of December 2016. This success is said to have been driven by the rapid expansion of the market through a combination of television and other media exposure and demonstrations at the point of sale.
However, the company came to depend on the futon vacuum cleaner as its sole core product, and some have argued that the brand’s identity became fixed to that product. The decision to concentrate capital and personnel on a growing market is discussed both as a rational choice and as a point for reflection, while expansion into other fields progressed without breaking beyond those limits.
The company is now developing new products outside the futon vacuum cleaner category, including futon conditioners, cordless vacuum cleaners and wet-mopping robots, while building up its technological expertise. However, some still believe that an inadequate brand strategy hindered the expansion of the brand as a whole.