Ceregem’s latest massage chair gains popularity

[Courtesy of Ceragem]

Ceragem’s latest massage chair, Pause M6, is gaining popularity despite a market that is sluggish overall. The company received 1,300 applications within three weeks of starting pre-orders and the contract volume increased by 89.6 percent after its official release on April 30th, 2024, compared to the previous model.

Ceragem’s Pause series first appeared in 2020, opening a door to the furniture-type massage chair market.

Many consumers have avoided massage chairs, which are larger in size compared to other household appliances or living room furniture, due to concerns about disrupting the overall interior atmosphere in the living room.

But the Pause series, which focused on reducing size and integrating with other furniture designs, changed consumers’ perceptions of massage chairs, gaining popularity. It set a record by topping 80,000 units in accumulated shipments and sales of 200 billion won ($147.6 million) in just four years.

According to a survey conducted by Ceragem in 2023, 39.6 percent of customers who purchased small massage chairs overall chose Pause. This is nearly three times higher than the second place (13.2 percent).

The newly released M6, a full-change model, is attracting even more attention. Ceragem describes the M6, which required over two years of development as essentially the complete form of the Pause series.

The most significant change is the heat technology, as Pause M6 is equipped with the industry’s first direct-heating massage balls that can heat up to a maximum of 65 degrees Celsius. These massage balls help to release tense muscles by simultaneously massaging and applying hot heat while providing the user with a sense of refreshment, the company said.

Massage chairs typically incorporate materials such as silicone and rubber to provide a gentle massage sensation. But it is technically challenging to make silicone materials, which are commonly used in massage balls, hot as e silicone has a low heat transfer rate. Defects can occur If the temperatures are too high, particularly since massage chairs apply strong pressure, and massage chairs therefore typically use less efficient indirect heating materials. While some products incorporate heating elements, most use separate massage balls for the massage functions.

To overcome this, Ceragem combined silicone and aluminum materials to create a structure that withstands the high temperatures inside the heating massage balls without deforming or damaging the silicone. This allowed the company to successfully implement a 65-degree heating massage ball, like the Master, a spinal heating appliance.

Another representative technology from the Master, spinal line scanning, was added to the M6. It can provide a tailored massage by accurately pinpointing pressure point by measuring the length and curvature of the spine. The function measures the shoulder position, predicts the user’s spine length, divides it into nine points, and provides optimized massages for each body part.

Another feature is the disappearance of the ottoman, or leg rest. The reason for boldly removing the ottoman, which allows users to elevate their legs while receiving massages, is that Pause series added the first leg reclining function.

This enables dual reclining of the upper body to 150 degrees and the lower body to 80 degrees, allowing for weight distribution and enhancing the massage effect, realizing a zero-gravity massage mode, according to Ceragem.