Vacuum Cleaners Discussions

• Despite the recession, global sales for the company increased 23% to 770m GBP
• Operating profits more than doubled from 90m to 190m GBP
• The Dyson Air Multiplier is a top seller in Australia; within 6 weeks, representing 64% of the market for desk fans, by value.
• In the UK and US markets, the updated 'ball' range represents more than half of the Dyson cleaners sold.
• In the UK, the company has a total market share for vacuum cleaners, by value, of 40%.
• Dyson is the market leader for vacuum cleaner sales (by value) in the UK, US, Canada, Australia, France, Belgium, Spain, Switzerland, Ireland and New Zealand.

Looking ahead, the company talks about new product launches scheduled towards the end of 2010 - a fair number of which (my speculation) are likely to continue the trend of offering a completive advantage by using digital motor technology. Ironically, a technology originally developed for use in their full-size vacuums, while all current models continue to use traditional motors.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/dyson-profits-double-thanks-to-rd-investment-1983841.html

http://www.themanufacturer.com/uk/content/10603/Dyson_cleans_up

http://www.managementtoday.co.uk/channel/Entrepreneurship/news/1006022/sales-vacuum-dyson-gadgets-cost-worth-paying/

http://www.eurekamagazine.co.uk/article/25296/Dyson-doubles-operating-profits.aspx - note: this has the statement 'The company has also confirmed plans to launch a robotic version of its bagless vacuum cleaner' - dunno if that's significant, but I haven't seen it reported elsewhere.

Thought you might like to read the latest on bugatti from the NY Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/23/automobiles/collectibles/23BUGATTI.html?ex=1290484800&en=f4858c8bf631e842&ei=5087&WT.mc_id=AU-D-I-NYT-MOD-MOD-M151-ROS-0610-HDR&WT.mc_ev=click

Like collectible vacuums or more like dyson's comment on paper bags.  The only perceived truth is in the heads of the sayer.

Carmine D.

dib,

Companies sue each other all the time.  How were the lawsuits resolved?  Please provide a link to the story of the rulings if possible.  David Oreck is a very smart man.  He also knows that it's important to protect his reputation.  He doesn't just say that bagless vacuums are messy, he demonstrates it with videos.   In a table comparing bagless to his bagged vacuums, he does use the phrase "bagless - may be messy to empty."  

I'm not sure how the lawsuit was resolved, but several videos are still on the oreck web site depicting the messiness of emptying a Dyson DC14:   www.oreck.com/upright-vacuum-cleaners/oreckxlultra_vs_bagless.cfm. 

But fortunately, just down the aisle what did I see that could change my life -- an 8,000 BTU Frigidaire air conditioner FOR JUST $199.  If I want to I can add another $60 and get coverage for in-home repair or replacement through BestBuy for the next four years.  I'm but lowly and plebian but the deal rings sweet in my ear and I swoon . . .

Moving on to vacuums -- Dyson should be beefing about the awful manner in which BestBuy allows vacuums to be used for demo and store maintenance and then returned to the shelve for display without emptying or cleaning up.  It is not helpful as far as turning on a possible buyer is concerned.  I of course have been informed that BEstBuy does not promote this kind of use for saleable stock but it appears, alas, alas, word hasn't reached my branch.

Despite the dirty, dusty (and scratched-up) state that this branch of BestBuy had set out its demo model of the DC28 in, I was able to immediately appreciate the thing that makes it a winner.  The brushroll.  The bristle tufting is set more tightly together and the "drum" is larger.   For all his far flung ideas, Jimmy D finally got something right.

Venson

Saw the fan at target....no way on this earth is it worth the cost..period.

a/c....so worth the cost my friend....years of relaxating enjoyment....money well spent as i would die and fall out without my a/c.....my youth  is to blame ive been told...? the ext warrty...in your situation is worth it...id be all over it . the security is worth it.

The 28s roller would be an after-market gift to the 7.....that and the clutch system....get rid of i say and install an aftermarket roller like the 28 and you have a beast in waiting...problem solved...and one im surprised hasnt been addressed...due to the issues at hand.

turtle

As a fan, the Dyson air multiplier is way overpriced - by several hundred dollars.  However, as a status symbol and piece of art, it's "priceless."  

A collector's item. 

Carmine D. 

Hi Severus,

Thinking along the lines of novelty as regards appliance buys we could well live without, the price of the Dyson fan should at best, have been a hundred dollars as you've mentioned to make it attractive to the American public.  I think that proves even more true if Dyson distributoors are going to send them to not necessarily high-end shopping venues like BestBuy, Target and Wal-Mart.  People shopping at these places are not going to them to find out how much they can spend.  They're looking to see how much they won't have to spend.

I'd expect to see a desktop fan at the present $300 price at Sharper Image, Hammacher Schlemmer or even Bed, Bath & Beyond.

Breville -- a rather pricey maker of kitchen appliances -- commands higher than usual prices but a very large part of its product is made of cast metal and has some semblance of being "heavy duty."

By the way, does anyone know how you go about cleaning one these fans periodically?  Desktop fans with exposed blades collect dust but can usually be easily dissasembled for cleaning.  I've done it many times.

The perforations allowing the entry of air around the middle of the base of the Dyson fan can be wiped clean externally and without problem but how do you get at the "impeller" to clean it and does the ring come apart for cleaning as well?

As for vacuum pricing in general, it's been way over actual cost for a long time.  Even more annoying in the pondering of it is the fact that most of what's offered is neither being made at home nor are most of the workers producing the product getting near what we'd consider a living wage.

Venson

I would agree with this several years ago.  More recent years, I have not seen any dyson/Sir James advertising anywhere.  Not on TV, at least not here in the US, no US magazines, notta.  Maybe Sir James is concentrating on the UK home front or stock piling the funds he raided from Retained Earnings several years ago.  Perhaps dyson is sinking in R&D with all the new planned/pipelined products.  Haven't seen anything new yet in vacuums, the white edition of the ball model doesn't count.  Still same old same old DC25.  Last new vacuum is the DC28 in upright and DC23 in cann now going on a year and two young. 

Carmine D.