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Dyson vacuum cleaners: Better by design or
better by marketing?
by Marty White, founder of Vacs4U.com
Since the US launch of Dyson vacuum cleaners in
2003, they have taken the US market by storm. In
fact, Dyson has been so successful – not just in
the US, but throughout the world - that Hoover,
once the powerhouse of the vacuum cleaner
industry, has rapidly lost market share. In
fact, Hoover has experienced such a decline in
profitability that it has been put up for sale
by its parent company.
But how has Dyson achieved this success? Is it
due to superior design and functionality or is
it the result of a slick marketing campaign? The
real question is this: how sustainable is
Dyson’s success? Marketing hype is OK in the
short term, but can cost you down the line if
customers do not become repeat buyers because
they feel cheated by the initial sales pitch. On
the other hand, if the Dyson range really does
deliver, then customer loyalty will no doubt
ensure long-term success.
After much hard work and thousands of
prototypes, James Dyson unveiled his first
vacuum cleaner - the G force – back in 1991.
He’d tried to take the Dyson concept to all of
the major players in the industry, but was
politely shown the door at every turn. With a
lack of funding to turn his dream into reality,
he was facing bankruptcy. However, he caught a
break by winning a Japanese design award and
soon the G-Force was selling for $2,000 a pop
there. This gave him the cash flow he needed to
set up on his own and the popular DC01 model was
launched in the UK in 1993. It was an instant
smash hit and it took on the mantle of being the
best selling vacuum cleaner in the UK within 2
years.
Engineering and good design definitely played a
hugely important role in the success of the
Dyson. The Cyclone technology is at the heart of
the Dyson concept, the claim being that there
are no bags or filters to clog up and so there
is no gradual loss of suction, as is experienced
with traditional vacuum cleaners. Usability is
also key and the Dyson is brimming with
ergonomic features. The DC05, for example, is
designed to balance solidly on your stairs. The
latest Dyson, the DC15, is the subject of 182
patents and 3 years of R&D investment and offers
“The Ball” technology. “The Ball” replaces the
wheels and makes it easier to manoeuvre the
vacuum cleaner around your house, around
furniture and into nooks and crannies. No more
back and forth, pull-push manoeuvres, now you
can twist and turn!
On the other hand, all of this gadgetry comes at
a price. Not just a monetary price – which is a
significant factor - but the reliability of the
Dyson range has been called into question. With
all of these interacting parts and design
features, it is little wonder that a 2004 survey
by consumer magazine Which? placed Dyson vacuums
at the bottom of the pile in terms of
reliability. However, and perhaps
counter-intuitively, the same study reported
that Dyson users were most likely to refer the
product to a friend! Could it be that a lack in
long-term reliability is offset by a truly
superior product that delivers on its marketing
messages?
And talking of the marketing messages, Dyson
undoubtedly has a great campaign. Much of its
initial success was built on the clear-chamber
“bagless” concept. As it turns out, the fact
that people can see the dirt being extracted
from their furniture and carpets is enough to
make them buy an expensive vacuum cleaner…
especially when they are encouraged not to store
it away in the back of a cupboard because of the
bold color scheme and futuristic exterior
styling (think iPod or iMac for vacuum
cleaners!) The Dyson really has been positioned
as a trendy design statement. But who would have
known? Far from being marketing genius (although
it was) the campaign was built around the
engineering and usability strengths of the
product. Because the Cyclone technology delivers
maximum power without degradation over time, it
will pick up more dirt. The clear-chamber
“bagless” concept was driven by a passion to
demonstrate the power of the product, rather
than as a marketing gimmick – it just happened
to be a stroke of genius!
For all its success the jury is still out on how
the Dyson will fare in the future. The time when
customers start to think about replacing their
existing Dyson will be make-or-break time in
terms of the company’s future. But despite some
concerns over the reliability of their machines,
it seems that customers like what they see in
the Dyson range of vacuum cleaners and believe
that the Dyson is a superior product.
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