Massage King Bodyfriend Park Sang-hyun "Next Goal is Healthcare"

[Post-Corona, Global Corporate Survival Strategies]
Interview with Bodyfriend CEO Park Sang-hyun
"Creating Healthcare Robots for Every Home Worldwide"
Massage Chairs... Surpassing 500 Billion KRW in Sales in 2020
Combining Entertainment Features Using Virtual Reality with Massage Chairs

[Asia Economy Reporter Junhyung Lee] They created a market. It is a miraculous achievement. Bodyfriend officially entered the massage chair business 15 years ago. At that time, the penetration rate of massage chairs per household in Japan exceeded 20%, but in Korea, it was a barren land. The high-end market was monopolized by Japanese brands like Panasonic and Inada Family, while the low-end products were crude.

Massage chairs could only be seen at saunas or rest stops. They were black chairs with worn-out "leather (synthetic leather)" that operated by inserting two 500-won coins.

In 2010, Bodyfriend's annual sales were 18.8 billion KRW. It surpassed 100 billion KRW in 2014 and recorded 347.4 billion KRW in 2016. Despite the challenging economic situation due to the COVID-19 pandemic last year, they sold over 130,000 massage chairs, exceeding an estimated 500 billion KRW in sales. The company’s scale grew 27 times in 10 years. They did not create a product that did not exist before, nor was it the result of innovations like developing new materials.

Although they expanded their business into natural latex mattresses (product name: La Cloud) rental services, the dependence on massage chair sales remains absolute. There may be growth limitations ahead due to the single product focus on massage chairs and a sales structure mainly based on domestic demand. On the 11th, I met CEO Sanghyun Park (46) at Bodyfriend’s headquarters in Dogok-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul.

- Is continuous growth possible with massage chairs?

△ We have set the future business direction toward healthcare. Our company’s goal is to "extend healthy lifespan by 10 years." If the primary purpose is to help health through massage, the next step is to utilize various sensor technologies for early disease diagnosis and to alert users of risks in advance. We have named this the "healthcare robot." Our dream is to place one healthcare robot in every household worldwide.

Therefore, we are also pursuing business for hospitals. We plan to launch a massage device that measures and notifies electrocardiograms (ECG) soon. When that massage device is used in hospitals, it becomes a medical device. When sitting in the massage chair, information such as body temperature, heart rate, and ECG is automatically measured, and daily health status and body changes can be monitored using that data. Entertainment functions using virtual reality (VR) can also be added to the massage chair. Developing innovative features can create limitless demand.

- Although COVID-19 remains a threat, it has become an opportunity for Bodyfriend.

△ When COVID-19 broke out, our first-quarter performance last year plummeted. Our plan to target overseas markets by appointing BTS as a model initially seemed to face setbacks. However, as people spent more time at home and the importance of health management was emphasized, interest in massage chairs surged.

Europe is almost a barren market for massage chairs. However, it is a market where a high-end strategy works. Although currently sluggish due to COVID-19, a 50 trillion KRW market could open globally in the mid to long term. Viewed as healthcare devices, the market size is limitless. This is the strategy Bodyfriend will pursue in the European market going forward.

- There are shadows behind rapid growth.

△ In recent years, the company has faced investigations by prosecutors and corrective orders from the Fair Trade Commission due to allegations of clinical trial result manipulation and exaggerated advertising. The company sometimes feels these issues are unfair and views them as rites of passage for new attempts. We hope people see these as growing pains that occur during a company’s growth and look forward to what Bodyfriend will show in the future. Nevertheless, the company’s medical and research staff continue to conduct medical and technical experiments applied to massage chairs and are achieving remarkable results.

CEO Park is giving a thumbs-up at the 5th-floor technology research lab of Bodybrand headquarters in Dogok-dong, Seoul.

Bodyfriend is a company with many unique aspects. Eight medical specialists working at the company’s "Medical Research and Development Center" directly take care of the health of employees and their immediate families. At the "Salon de Bodyfriend" located in the Dogok Tower headquarters, scalp massages, perms, dyeing, haircuts, nail care, and pedicures are available. The in-house cafeteria "Cafeteria de Bodyfriend" offers meals prepared by a hotel-trained chef using organic ingredients as the main materials. Hair designers, chefs, baristas, and others working on-site are all full-time employees and experts in their respective fields.

CEO Park said, "Just claiming to be premium does not make something premium. Products, stores, and employees all have to be the best for customers to feel that way, and that is exactly the direction we pursue."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.