Navien vs Gwittrami Compete with 'Heating Mats'

Kyungdong Navien Takes Lead in Hot Water Mats
Kiturami Bets on Carbon Mats
This Month's Winter Preparation Home Shopping Battle

Kiritori Carbon Mat.
Photo by Kiritori

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Jong-hwa] Kyungdong Navien and Kiturami Boiler, rivals competing in the boiler industry, have also gone head-to-head in the heating mat market. As water heating mats have become the mainstream in the market, the recent popularity of a new concept carbon mat has stirred the heating mat market, which is worth around 300 billion KRW annually.

Kyungdong Navien and Kiturami both launched water heating mats in 2015. Water heating mats, which operate by circulating hot water, have overtaken electric mats?long criticized for fire hazards and electromagnetic wave emissions?and have begun to establish themselves as the mainstay of heating mats. In the competition between the two companies, Kyungdong Navien, which consistently released new products addressing the water leakage and noise drawbacks of water heating mats, took the lead over Kiturami and gained the upper hand. In response, Kiturami launched a carbon mat in November last year as a new strategic move, withdrawing from the water heating mat market except for after-sales service (AS).

Kiturami’s ambitious product is the recently released 2022 model 3rd generation ‘Carbon Mat Ondol.’ The Carbon Mat Ondol is made from aramid advanced fiber, a ‘magic thread’ that is five times stronger than the steel used in bulletproof vests and does not melt even at high temperatures of 500°C. It eliminates concerns about wire breaks and fire, and the carbon heating wires emit a large amount of far-infrared radiation beneficial to the human body. The electricity cost has also been reduced to about 1,200 KRW per day.

It is evaluated to have overcome all the drawbacks of existing water heating mats, such as leakage, bacteria, draining and refilling water, and circulation motor noise. Kiturami, which focused on promoting the carbon mat last year, is now smiling as word of mouth spreads and the carbon mat’s upward trend becomes clear this year. Kiturami expects that the new concept carbon mat will not only change the market dominance of water heating mats but also bring about a generational shift in heating mats.

Navien Mate EQM582.
Photo by Kyungdong Navien

Kyungdong Navien’s countermeasure against Kiturami’s strategic move is represented by the new product Navien Mate ‘EQM582.’ It provides the optimal sleep temperature with smart temperature control technology and delivers warmth up to 45% faster than previous models with the ‘Quick Heating’ function. The ‘Self Ion Care’ function periodically keeps the water flowing inside the mat clean by using electrolyzed sterilized water.

Water heating mats have become essential appliances that create the perfect sleep temperature, beyond just auxiliary heating devices. According to Kyungdong Navien, sales of the Navien Mate product increased by 210% last year compared to its launch in 2015. It is now regarded as the representative brand of premium water heating mats.

Although winter is the peak season for heating mats, consumers start preparing for the cold from October. The competition between the two companies kicked off with a home shopping battle as soon as October began. Kiturami introduced its heating mats through GS Home Shopping on the 1st, and Kyungdong Navien showcased theirs via Hyundai Home Shopping on the 4th. Heating mats, introduced to break through the stagnation in their main boiler market, are heating up the autumn season.

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