Ice Water Dispenser Sales Increase by 30% in April-May
Yugu Factory and Incheon Factory Production Lines Running at Full Capacity
Located in Gongju City, Chungcheongnam-do, Coway Yugu Factory, which mainly produces water purifiers among Coway's products, is currently operating busily without a moment to spare. Since early April, the water purifier production line has been running at full capacity. Although preparations for the summer peak season started earlier than usual, it is still challenging to meet the surging order volume. This is because the demand for ice water purifiers has sharply increased due to the early heatwave.
On the 19th, Coway announced that sales of ice water purifiers increased by 30% in April and May this year compared to the same period last year. Typically, demand for ice water purifiers begins to rise after late May, when the heat starts, but this year, due to the early heatwave, sales surged from April. A Coway official said, "From this month, we plan to secure production volume by adding an ice water purifier production line," adding, "We are preparing measures to add production lines in full operation to prepare for the full-scale summer order volume." In addition to the Yugu Factory, the main production site for water purifiers, Coway plans to operate the production line at the Incheon Factory at full capacity to fully respond to customer demand for ice water purifiers.
The surge in demand for ice water purifiers is partly due to the early heatwave, but also because Coway is actively targeting this market, led by the Icon ice water purifier, which has driven the trend toward smaller sizes. Coway first released the Icon ice water purifier in 2022, significantly reducing the product size to meet the needs of consumers who wanted to use ice water purifiers but found them burdensome to use in narrow kitchens. At the time of release, it was the smallest ice water purifier size in Korea.
Since its launch, the Coway Icon ice water purifier has changed the market landscape and established itself as the representative product in the ice water purifier category. This year, Coway is accelerating its market penetration by introducing an upgraded version of the Icon ice water purifier for the first time in two years. The new product allows user-customized control over everything from hot water temperature to dispensing volume and ice size. Reflecting the recent trend toward hyper-personalization in the home appliance market, the product was developed to enable customized control according to the user’s lifestyle.
First, users can control the hot water temperature and dispensing volume as they wish. Through the Coway platform IoCare app, users can set the temperature from warm water at 45 degrees to ultra-hot water at 100 degrees in 5-degree increments, using it as needed. The dispensing volume can also be freely set in 10ml increments to match the size of the cup or user convenience, allowing customized extraction. Ice size can be selected between large ice (about 10g) and small ice (about 7g) during production, depending on cooking or beverages. Despite having abundant ice-making capacity, hygiene functions, and smart product management, it also earned the highest energy efficiency rating of Grade 1, combining economy with functionality.
A Coway official said, "As the heat worsens day by day, the number of consumers seeking ice water purifiers is greatly increasing, and the market is rapidly growing," adding, "Following the reputation of the Icon ice water purifier, the new product is also receiving a good response in the market. Based on this, we plan to lead this summer’s trend and continuously strengthen our leadership in the ice water purifier market."
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