Ice Water Purifier Sales Up 22%
Gourmet Appliance Segment Grows 34%
Business Restructuring After Holding Company Transition
Annual Revenue Approaching 2 Trillion Won
Cuckoo is shedding its image as a "rice cooker company" and evolving into a comprehensive home appliance brand. By diversifying its product lineup to include ice water purifiers, food waste disposers, and air conditioners, the company is seeing a sharp increase in performance across both its appliance and rental businesses.
According to Cuckoo on May 26, sales of Cuckoo Homesys ice water purifiers over the past three months increased by 22% compared to the previous year. In particular, the "Zero 100 Slim Water Purifier," launched in April last year, has established itself as a main product line, recording an average monthly sales growth rate of 51%. A Cuckoo Homesys representative stated, "Ice water purifiers are becoming an essential appliance year-round, rather than being limited to a single season," and added, "The market is being reorganized so that only products with outstanding technology can survive."
Thanks to the strong performance of these products, Cuckoo Homesys' home appliance business recorded sales of 192 billion won in the first quarter of this year, a 19.1% increase compared to 161.1 billion won in the same period last year. The overall performance, including the rental business, is also showing stable growth. In addition to water purifiers, Cuckoo Homesys is expanding its business by introducing a variety of home appliances such as robot vacuum cleaners, food waste disposers, and mattresses, as well as by building an integrated rental platform.
Cuckoo is also accelerating its portfolio diversification. This year, the company has launched new products in quick succession, including the Euro Top Mattress and the sixth-generation food waste disposer "Ecowhale," as well as new mid-sized appliances such as wall-mounted air conditioners. Cuckoo is pursuing a strategy of thoroughly reviewing new products before launch, reflecting requests from distribution channels and market demand.
Additionally, Cuckoo is focusing its capabilities on "gourmet appliances" with its own competitive edge, seeking differentiation. The company is expanding its product lineup to cover all aspects of food life, strengthening not only cooking appliances such as induction ranges, microwave ovens, and air fryers, but also storage appliances such as freezers and kimchi refrigerators. From 2022 to 2024, sales of gourmet appliance products grew at an average annual rate of 34%. This figure excludes the company's existing main product lines such as rice cookers.
Sales of other home appliances have surpassed those of rice cookers. Cuckoo Homesys recorded sales of 1.0572 trillion won last year, a 10.7% increase compared to the previous year. In contrast, Cuckoo Electronics, which focuses on rice cookers, recorded sales of 748 billion won, up only 6.7% from the previous year. The results of product diversification and business portfolio restructuring are now clearly visible in the numbers.
Cuckoo entered the home appliance business in 2010 with the launch of water purifiers and completely reorganized its business structure in 2017 to expand this segment in earnest. The former Cuckoo Electronics was converted into a holding company, Cuckoo Holdings, and the water purifier and rental divisions were spun off to establish Cuckoo Homesys, while the manufacturing division became the new Cuckoo Electronics through a physical division. Since then, Cuckoo Holdings has expanded its scale with these two affiliates at its core, and recently, annual sales have grown to the point where achieving 2 trillion won is within reach.
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