oreck corp. adds products, revamps marketing strategy - best air purifier to buy

Nashville, Tennessee--
You saw the advertisement.
For years, David o'rek has often sold you late at night with his lightweight o'rek stand vacuum cleaner.
According to the company, the emergence of the CEO and pitchman helped create a signature brand that, despite having only 70% of the vertical vacuum market share 10 years ago, more than 5% of consumers recognized.
But there is a problem: there is a bag in the ollake vacuum cleaner.
On 2002, British engineer James Dyson introduced his beautifully designed bag-free vacuum cleaner to the United States. S.
Put them in larger retail stores, devour customers, and change the design and marketing of vacuum cleaners forever.
Ten years later, about 80% of the upright vacuum cleaners sold were bag-free. Now, Oreck.
In different cities (
The company's headquarters moved from New Orleans to Nashville, Tennessee. , in 2008)
There are different CEOs and almost completely different employees.
After years of transformation and slow sales of the trademark vacuum, it is reshaping itself.
"We feel like we're 50. year-
Doug Cahill said he became CEO of Orek in 2010 after serving as chief executive officer of Mars pet care and President of Winchester ammunition. With $2.
With sales of 3 billion in 2012, the vertical vacuum cleaner is a considerable market, with Oreck's share falling to 4%.
About 70% of the company's revenue comes from the sale and repair of vacuum cleaners, mainly through direct sales and 325 specialty stores.
As the company wants to shift some of its brand awareness to sales, a lot of money has been invested in consumer research, product development and marketing, and a series of changes have been made.
First of all, Oreck has expanded its television advertising beyond information advertising and has purchased a number of ads on popular shows, including "general hospitals" and "law and order ".
"We know that we have a 92% market for insomnia," Cahill said . "
"Why don't we sell the vacuum cleaner to people who sleep at night?
"Oreck is rolling out several new products, including its first bag-free vacuum cleaner, air purifier and one that Cahill is particularly proud of: a lightweight, bag-free vacuum/steam
"This has never been seen in this industry," he said . "
The company is also shifting from traditional direct selling and Specialty Stores --
They account for more than 80% of sales in total.
By signing contracts with more major retailers, including Wal-Mart,Mart.
"We are designing products related to her and we will put them where she wants to buy them," says Cahill. "In the higher-
Within the final price range for most Oreck models to fall, the purchase is usually a common decision of the family, "but we think the best way to design and sell the product is to be with her, Cahill said, because we think she knows more than he does.
"Prior to Cahill's arrival, from the Gulf Coast to 2007 Tennessee, Orek closed a factory in Long Beach, causing a stir, Miss.
Citing the burden of rising insurance costs after Hurricane Katrina.
It opened a new factory in Cookeville, Tennessee.
A year later, the company's office moved from New Orleans to Nashville.
Cahill said only 52 of the company's roughly 700 Gulf Coast employees came to Tennessee.
Oreck now has about 415 employees in the state, 315 of whom are in a factory and call center in Cookeville.
As the company adjusted to its new location, the volume of vacuum sales in bags dropped and the flow of specialty stores began to decrease.
"Our business is getting narrower and narrower," says Cahill . ".
In order to seek ways to gain an advantage, the company has engaged with customers.
The company has developed a network of local consumers to test products and ads, seek feedback through online crowdsourcing, and start visiting families to study the relationship between consumers and clean products.
This study resulted in various adjustments and additions to product functions and functions, but the most noticeable change in Oreck products was appearance.
"If you ask the customer what age it came from, they will say that Oreck is a 1960 vacuum cleaner," said Bill McLaughlin ,". Executive editor of industry publication HomeWorld Business.
Oreck's New bagged vacuum cleaners lack the founder features of their predecessors and have become thinner and thinner
Lower bag and thin magnesium handle.
Chris Patterson, chief product officer at Oreck, said there was a glowing light near a model handle, a feature of Apple.
The new model even won the industry design award.
The company is working with the University of Vandenberg and NASA to help researchers continue to drive the work.
Students at the University of van der Burg studied how to improve the Oreck specialty store and helped the company develop air purifiers.
With the help of an engineering student and NASA, Oreck is working on how to incorporate the airflow technology developed by NASA into the vacuum.
Whether these changes will significantly increase sales remains to be seen, Cahill said, and the company still has about two years to go in the re-invention phase.
But he saw the opportunity, especially $199.
The price of large retail stores is $399, higher than the lower-priced models and lower than the higher-priced models.
Dyson occupies high-end space.
Debra medenick, an analyst at research firm NPD, said the average price of a vacuum cleaner was up 8% in 2012, "which is a good story for those who aim for a premium.
Cahill declined to disclose the company's financial position.
Thomas o'rek, the former CEO of o'rek, told the New York Times in 2007 that the company's revenue was "well over $0. 2 billion ".
It is vital that the company has very little debt, says Cahill.
"If we had a lot of debt, we 'd put lipstick on it," he said, pointing to an old vacuum model in the office.
He said the challenge ahead will be to grab loyal customers who like the old Oreck model while attracting a younger generation of buyers.
"We have a very profitable company," says Cahill . "
But not because we're going to cut costs.
We will do this because the consumer will tell a friend, 'I love my Orek and you have to buy one.