by Company’s path over the past 12 years has made it a leader in the massage chair category as its value story is tied directly to product innovation, features and benefits
COVINA, Calif. — Looking back at some of Cozzia USA’s major innovations over the years, President Bob Bruns recalls the 3D massage chair the company launched a decade ago this coming fall.
Describing it as the first of its kind in the marketplace at the time, it offered the latest in massage chair technology. This included rollers that not only went up and down and side to side but that also pushed in and out, providing a multidimensional experience in massage and pain relief.
There was only one problem — at least as far as the sales reps were concerned. The chair retailed at $3,999, making it the most expensive chair in the line. It was also twice the price of an entry-level model the company was asking them to sell as part of a three-chair program that included a $2,000 and a $2,500 chair.
“I thought the reps were going to shoot us, because they said ‘there is no way we can sell a $4,000 massage chair.’” Bruns said.
His response?
“I said to them ‘just sell it. Just take it to your dealers and ask them to try it,’” he recalled. “Basically we were asking them to buy three chairs. … We were just trying to get as much revenue as we could, but what I also was doing was trying to standardize the program and not sell items, but sell programs and features and benefits.”
Ninety days later, he said, it became the company’s No. 1 selling chair.
The lesson? Consumers would pay for features they perceived would improve their comfort and their lives as the chairs’ primary goal is to provide therapeutic and health-related benefits that come with a good massage.
This remains a core principle of the line today as innovation guides all of the company’s product development efforts. It’s a big reason Bruns describes Cozzia not as a massage chair resource but rather as an innovator that provides wellness-centered solutions.
“We are not a massage chair company, or a massage chair distributor or a massage chair manufacturer,” he said. “We are a health and wellness company that is multifaceted. That is what separates us from everybody else.”
It’s also why when asked about its starting price points, Bruns talks about the chairs that offer the most features and benefits. Whereas most companies answer this question with their starting price points and — and are often reluctant to say to where they top out — Bruns says the line starts with the most innovative and advanced chairs in the line, including its most expensive model targeted to retail at $8,499.
The Qi XE Pro model features Chair Doctor technology powered by AI to help relieve the user’s tension and stress. It does this with a hand-held biometric scanner and GSR (galvanic skin response) control sensors to send biofeedback information to sense tension areas. It also uses PPG (photoplethysmography) technology to read the heart rate and analyze stress levels and also measures SPO2 (Saturation of Peripheral Oxygen) blood oxygen levels as part of the overall analysis to create a massage tailored to the individual’s needs. In addition, dual air compression chambers featuring three levels of intensity are placed in the left and right sides of the lower back to target and relieve stiffness.
Today there are eight models in the Cozzia line in multiple colors. Other Cozzia chairs fall within the $7,000, $6,000 and $4,000 price range, plus a starting price point of $1,600.
“So anybody that needs a massage chair can afford one now,” Bruns said. “For distribution purposes, we have a couple of price points that are the same, but with different models.”
The next highest priced model, the Qi SE, also massages from head to toe, with features such as heated knee and calf massage, heated lumbar massage, one-touch gravity recline and other custom massage elements including tri-action reflexology foot rollers, for example. It also has Bluetooth speakers and offers both touch and voice control mechanisms.
The top two highest priced models, Bruns notes, could represent between 50% to 60% of volume this year.
It is this type of innovation that’s expanded its presence to more than a third of the 100 largest retailers in the U.S., nearly four times the number it sold about 10 years ago. Bruns said the line is also sold at three of the top electronics dealers and at a number of smaller independents.
But it wasn’t an easy path to success, as Bruns relates. A former sales executive with Berkline, he was first introduced to the company’s top executive Mark Holmes around 2009 and Berkline ultimately became Cozzia’s biggest OEM customer for its massage chairs.
Then two years later, the bottom fell out for Berkline when it filed for Chapter 11 in the spring of 2011, meaning Cozzia lost its biggest revenue stream overnight.
At that point, Bruns, who still had relationships with the Berkline reps, met with Holmes and came up with a plan to resume selling the chairs to some of Berkline’s largest customers, which included 110 key accounts around the country.
“What I did was I remerchandised the program and I personally called every one of those dealers and I said ‘this is who I am and this is what I am doing. If you have any interest, we would love to do business with you,” he said, adding that he hired 19 of the former Berkline reps who at the time were all looking to replace that business.
CEO Holmes asked Bruns what it would take to sell the line “wide” across the U.S., and Bruns quickly identified several key pathways to success. First was having the right product. Second was to merchandise it at the right price points that would give dealers the margins they needed. Third was having the product available in U.S. warehouses and being able to ship it quickly. Fourth was being able to service it properly.
Having created a vision and a business plan for the company, Bruns quickly rose within the ranks. He was named vice president of sales for Cozzia in the summer of 2011 and just over a year later was promoted to president.
His executive team today includes many well-known industry executives who have been with the company for the past dozen years or so, including Jimmy Lo, general manager; Greg Hunsucker, vice president; and John Cribbs, vice president of national accounts. His two daughters also hold key positions — Crystal, who is director of national accounts, and Madison, national accounts manager.
A design team is based in California and a team of engineers is based at the China manufacturing operations of its Chinese parent company.
“We just work in conjunction with our engineers in China to develop the product we want,” Bruns said. “And we have a lot of resources available to us because we are factory owned. Actually they do sell some other people, including some of our competitors, but we are in front. It works out OK because we develop it first and take it to market and usually we have a year, year and a half before other people get some of the technology we are using.”
Other highlights of Cozzia’s success have occurred in the development of various programs in the marketplace that include:
+ Hiring a professional training company with expertise in the furniture industry to do online training for RSAs. This helps the retail sales professionals get educated about the various technical components of the chairs before they begin to sell them to consumers.
+ Creating point-of-sale material for the consumer to help them understand the features and benefits of each chair. This evolved into digital displays launched around 2019 that are the anchor for Cozzia Wellness Centers on the retail sales floor. The company now has about 400 of these centers around the country and plans to increase this to 500 by the end of this year, Bruns noted.
+ The company also has created other brands and partnerships that broaden the price points and reach of the line in the marketplace. For example, its Svago brand created around 2015 features zero-gravity recliners available at price points retailing from $4,399 to $1,599. While the Cozzia model sells to brick-and-mortar customers specifically, Svago sells direct to the consumer through its website, although the brand also is available to brick-and-mortar customers. “We are in the process of building a Svago Wellness Center program, and we have about 50 of those set up right now,” Bruns said.
+ Its Ogawa brand is another direct-to-consumer model offering several models at upper price points while Ergotech is a value-priced brand featuring four chairs that retail at entry-level price points of $1,299 to $2,999.
+ It also launched its licensed line of chairs with Brookstone about two years ago.
With all these developments in play in the marketplace, the company is now looking to the next chapter of growth in a segment called Cozzia Custom Components.
A division of Cozzia USA, this new division found its first major partner in Southern Motion, which resulted in the 2017 launch of the SoCozi line in Southern’s motion upholstery line. It featured a two-program air-cell massage with heat technology.
Next came a collaboration in the fall of 2020 with Best Home Furnishings that brought Cozzia’s Smart Dial Technology inspired by mechanisms in luxury cars to Best’s power recliners. This program aimed to simplify the dial technology by offering multiple functions in one dial compared to a previous mechanism that the company said was “cumbersome and contributed to greater human error in use.”
“Controls operating the power functions in motion furniture can often be confusing and complicated, so we loved the simplicity of use, the elevated look as well as the design of the Cozzia dial,” said Janae Lange-Wendholdt, vice president, design and development at Best Home Furnishings. “The response has been very positive, and we’re excited to continue working on future projects with the Cozzia team.”
Cozzia’s latest collaboration occurred with the January Las Vegas introduction of the GhostBed Massage Mattress Powered by Cozzia. It utilizes air-cell technology built into the mattresses to create a five-zone massage covering five key areas including the neck, shoulders, back, glutes and legs. It also features 10-, 20- and 30-minute massage settings and an automatic shut-off. In addition, each side of the mattress has its own massage unit, with no motion transfer, which allows each individual to use the massage feature without disturbing the other person.
“After 18 months of collaboration with Cozzia, it was really rewarding to see our efforts pay off,” said Alan Hirschorn, executive vice president of GhostBed, adding, “The response from our retail partners to the new technology has been extremely gratifying, and we look forward to helping the end consumer get the opportunity to experience a unique wellness mattress.”
Cozzia officials believe the custom components division will be a major area of growth moving forward.
“Cozzia USA has a mission to solve current challenges often overlooked, particularly as it relates to health and wellness, and bring innovative solutions and advanced technologies to home furnishings,” said Holmes. “We can help provide important enhancements and value for the end consumer by focusing on ease of use, comfort, better relaxation, positive health benefits, affordability, appearance and support. Ultimately, we want to develop products we would love to have ourselves.”
For Bruns, it’s a way to help suppliers and retailers increase their unit selling price through innovative products, features and benefits — all aimed at improving the well-being of the consumer.
He also has a prediction for the Cozzia line as the company continues to innovate.
“I will tell you that the price point will go up,” he said, noting that a $10,000 chair is not out of the question soon as product development continues.
“For the past 12 years, I have had the same mindset,” Bruns said of his approach to bringing innovation to the business to help improve people’s quality of life. “Nothing has changed today.”
Holmes and Bruns recently spoke to a customer via Zoom who recently reached out to the company to share how a Cozzia chair not only improved — but probably actually saved — his life.
The 44-year-old man had been in multiple car accidents that had rendered him disabled and experiencing a lot of pain.
“He told us that because of the pain — and he doesn’t take pain medication — he was to the point where he was ready to give up,” Bruns said. “And then he got the (Cozzia) chair and told us specifically how it was helping him and how it alleviated the pain.”
The customer went on to tell the executives that while the pain has not totally gone away, “I can function now. I can go on now.”
It’s the type of story that Bruns and Holmes would like to share with others experiencing such challenges.
“We have talked to consumers before and have heard these types of stories, but this one was different,” Bruns said. “It was really interesting to get his perspective. … He was very passionate about what happened and how it happened, and we are going to do something with it, edit it and have him sign off on it. In a situation like this, if we can help educate people that are having these types of issues and can help them that just makes our lives even better.”
