The concept of "ergonomic design" has been around since the 80s. But it wasn't until at least the mid-90s that ergonomic devices for the office began to be commercialized. Because, as material and productivity continue to improve, the requirements for human beings to improve their quality of life will also become higher and higher.

Originally, ergonomic chairs, which are more complex than traditional chairs, may not be able to quickly become popular, but historically, the emergence of the Internet economy has made ergonomic chairs one of the winners of the new era.

It used to take decades for a new product or idea to become popular. But in the age of the Internet, information spreads faster, and things that are easy to use like ergonomic chairs were first widely adopted by high-tech companies in Silicon Valley.

With the popularity of Silicon Valley, the reputation of ergonomic chairs has also spread rapidly, and it has gradually become an upstart in the office chair industry.

You must know that in the past, the popular boss chair used sponge and leather at most to make the chair soft. However, it is not able to provide support for arms, waist, neck and other parts during the office, which will relieve the fatigue caused by sitting for a long time, and the effect is very average. Because, the traditional boss chair is not designed according to the concept of ergonomics.

Historically, the market for ergonomic chairs only began to take shape in the mid-90s and has maintained rapid growth. Its market size and profit margin are far more than traditional office chairs.

According to the global ergonomic chair market size in the future, it is conservatively estimated that at least 100 million ergonomic chairs will be sold worldwide every year. With an average unit price of $200 per chair, it is also a large market of $20 billion per year. Moreover, even if this market is not saturated by 2024, on the contrary, there are still a large number of countries and regions where ergonomic chairs are just beginning to become popular.

For example, in China's office chair market, ergonomics is gradually being taken seriously, at least until 2010.

Since the ergonomic chair was developed from the United States, the most successful manufacturer of the ergonomic chair was also the Herman Miller Company in the United States. The protagonist Sheldon Cooper's royal chair in "The Big Bang Theory" is Aeron, a series of ergonomic chairs, and the number of shots of the Aeron series in film and television dramas is also outrageous. Ten years after the Aeron series, Herman Miller introduced the Embody collection.

With the ergonomic chair, Hermann Müller has grown from a small company to a world-renowned supplier of desks and chairs, and is an unchallengeable leader in the high-end office chair market. If any company sells ergonomic chairs more expensive than Hermann Miller, then most users will choose Hermann Miller directly, and will not consider other ergonomic chair brands.

Of course, although Herman Miller is the first company to eat crabs in the ergonomic chair industry, and is the leader of the industry, due to its high cost and retail price, and the establishment of a 12-year after-sales service system, which also makes the company's chairs mainly in the high-end office chair market.

Hermann Miller couldn't monopolize the market for ergonomic chairs with patents, which only protect specific designs. Other companies only need to modify the design and launch similar products to bypass patent barriers.

Later, after the ergonomic chair market became popular, a large number of imitators appeared in countries around the world. Ergonomic chair brands have sprung up. The low-end market is basically occupied by countless engineering chair brands around the world. Herman Miller sells only a few million engineering chairs a year, with a market share of less than 5 percent! But at the same time, Herman Miller's sales amount is close to $2 billion, and its reputation is also among the best in the ergonomic chair industry.

I have to say that Herman Miller is really awesome, the classic style chair launched in the mid-90s, even by 2024, the earliest classic Aeron, is still one of the best ergonomic chairs, and it has been around for many years, and there is only a price increase, no price reduction, which is the awesomeness of the ergonomic chair. A classic style of engineering chair, if it can stand the test of the market, then, even if it is sold for 30 years, not only can it continue to sell, but also the price is more expensive than at the beginning, the sooner you buy it, the sooner you can enjoy it, but also cheaper. As long as a certain design is really classic, then you can really rely on a chair to eat decades old.

In fact, most of the engineering chair manufacturers basically relied on classic styles to eat their old books.

To put it simply, a ergonomic chair manufacturer even needs only one classic design to ensure a steady stream of orders for decades.

Lin Qi has a bunch of design drawings in his hands, not only Aeron and Embody, but also Gangcun, Songlin, Lianyou, Baoyou, and even the later domestic black and white tones, Xihao, Aofeng, and Dirix.

Referring to the price, the pricing of most of the domestic engineering chairs in black and white, Xihao, Aofeng, and Dirix is mainly for the entry-level market below 1000 yuan. Most of the Gangcun, Songlin, Lianyou, and Baoyou are in the middle and high-end, aiming at the market between 1000 yuan ~ 8000 yuan.

If you are willing to spend a price of more than 8,000 yuan, most users are directly considering using Hermann Miller's chair, which is not only classic, but also has 12 years of after-sales service!

After thinking about it, Lin Qi decided to copy all these designs, and launched more than one series of engineering chairs.

Of course, it is difficult to succeed from low-end to high-end. For example, the domestic engineering chair brand is limited, even if it gradually has the ability to design a high-end version, but it can't sell the price, and the main product can only be the entry-level with low profits. And this entry-level cost performance will also continue to grow with the domestic cost of materials, energy, rent, labor, etc., either to bear losses, or to have to increase prices. For example, at the beginning of the 21st century, the price of some entry-level engineering chairs in China may even be only more than 100 yuan, but more than ten years later, the design of some entry-level classic engineering chairs has not changed much, but the product will even rise to more than 500 yuan.

However, selling chairs for 100 yuan ~ 500 yuan in other countries is not the result that Lin Qi wants. Even the mid-range engineering chair that sells more than 1,000 yuan is not a great achievement.

If you want to maximize profits, you naturally have to start by selling high-end goods for $500, so that you can have enough force!

If you can launch a popular high-end brand, and then launch an entry-level product, you can expand the user base.

However, if you take the low-end route, word of mouth is cost-effective at the beginning. If you increase the price slightly, you will lose a large number of users, and it is difficult to successfully transform into a high-end brand with high added value!

Lin Qi spent a day reading these articles, from design to price changes. After that, I made up my mind: "Find a factory first and make Aeron!"

The Aeron chair is the key to Hermann Miller's rise. In the ergonomic chair industry, it belongs to one of the most classic designs. This chair's position in the ergonomic chair industry is almost like the originator, because many innovative designs were first appeared in this chair. And, even decades later, it's still high-end!

As for Herman Miller's other popular Embody, it is also very classic, with better appearance, and after its launch, it has become a strong challenger to the aeron series. However, the Embody is a titanium base!

Perhaps by the 21st century, titanium alloy has been a very common material, but titanium alloy is still a relatively high-end material in the 80s. Therefore, the Embody with a titanium alloy base is not easy to mass produce at this stage. If there is no titanium alloy as a material, the appearance may be greatly reduced.

As for the aeron looks, it doesn't look as good as Embody, but the materials used are very common, even in the 80s, it should be easy to make this kind of chair. Moreover, at the cost of domestic production, it can be mass-produced at an ultra-low price. In this way, this classic model, in the international market, can even have a cost advantage.

You must know that patent protection in many industries is not so reliable. However, lower production prices are often a more reliable advantage than patent protection.

Therefore, Lin Qi was ready to imitate the design and development route of Hermann Miller at the beginning, and first launched the Aeron series of ergonomic chairs. After this series is mass-produced and sold well in the market, we will launch Embody!