If you search for ergonomic chairs on China's shopping websites, you will find that the mainstream products of international brands such as Herman Miller, HAWORTH, and Okamura are priced at more than 10,000 RMB, while those below 1,000 RMB are mostly China's brands. There are relatively few mid-range ergonomic chairs priced between 2,000 and 5,000 RMB on the market.
Why is there such a huge gap in product prices on the market? Is the essence of the price difference due to differences in product strength, or are the prices inflated?
In-depth research revealed that there is indeed a reason why international brands are expensive.
Ergonomic chair has been developing for decades. Taking HermanMiller, one of the worlds three major ergonomic chair enterprises, as an example, its company has a history of nearly 110 years. Its classic ergonomic chair Aeron has been released for nearly 30 years. An excellent ergonomic chair is a collection of ergonomics, materials and other disciplines. Take Aeron, which went public in 1994, for example, and went through tens of thousands of experiments and tests to creatively use DuPont nylon mesh materials. And now everywhere net chair are from this seat.
Moreover, an excellent ergonomic chair is based on long-term human body data research. Take HAWORTH's Zody, one of the world's three largest ergonomic chair companies, for example. In the early 21st century, after several years of basic research with the University of Michigan research team, it created a unique lumbar support and sacral support system. The lumbar support of the popular ergonomic chairs now comes from this chair.
However, international brands should not be so expensive.
Putting aside all the gimmicks, is it reasonable that ergonomic chairs from international brands are so expensive?
International brands often justify high prices for ergonomic chairs through branding, exclusivity, and offline B2B sales strategies, relying on consumer trust and anchoring effects. These inflated prices support their offline sales networks but may not reflect true value. In contrast, China's brands dominate mid to low-end markets, competing on price but often lacking innovation and quality, leading to oversaturation and imitation. China's ergonomic chair hub, Anji, exemplifies this, with many small enterprises producing low-cost, less innovative products that hinder industry advancement.
In recent years, Chinese brands such as Black White Diao and Sihoo have pursued extremely high cost-effectiveness with existing technology and production background. They started from e-commerce, designed products with user thinking, and gradually penetrated into offline channels and corporate customers, with brand positioning focused on low-end products. Although the product strength is somewhat behind the international first-line products, it is a pragmatic and smart approach based on the characteristics of the company itself.
As Chinese companies continue to benchmark and catch up with international advanced companies, some domestic ergonomic chair industry brands have begun to focus on quality upgrades. They develop products in accordance with international first-class standards, continuously improve their own strength, drive the improvement of the industry level, and constantly challenge international first-line brands, just like a series of domestic sedans such as Meizu, Xiaomi, and HUAWEI challenged international giants. For example, emerging e-commerce brands ERGOMAX, ERGOUP and ZUOWE.
The "design thinking" and people-oriented design that are highly praised by companies around the world were proposed by IDEO. IDEO is also a long-term strategic partner of STEELCASE, the world's largest ergonomic chair company, and is an internationally leading design group. Through cooperation with internationally leading design teams, the first ergonomic chair Inspire series won three top international awards (German Red Dot Award, American IDEA Industrial Design Award and Japanese G-mark Award) as soon as it was launched.
Looking at the entire office chair industry around the world, it is quite difficult to win these three awards at the same time. In the field of ergonomic chairs, in ZUOWE, we seem to see the China's automobile companies of several years ago. Not only has the internal technology surpassed the world, but the appearance design also adapts to the world trend.
The office furniture industry looks forward to the rise of emerging Chinese brands. We need to lead the manufacturers with technical foundation, resources and real manufacturing capacity to upgrade the industry. Product force standard to reach the international brand, the inflated price down. Like in the car and smartphone industries, we can use a third of the price of international brands, enjoy the first-class products comparable to the international brands. With the continuous development of these enterprises, we can enjoy the professional ergonomic chair with both aesthetics and performance, no matter when and where, we can enjoy the comfortable and healthy quality students live.
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