Coway air, water purifier products shine in Malaysia

Coway Overseas Business Unit Director Paul Kim, third row fifth from left, and Coway Malaysia Managing Director Kyle Choi, front row third from left, pose with company staff during the firm’s 10th anniversary event in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, last August. / Courtesy of Coway

By Jhoo Dong-chan

The nation’s leading air and water purifier maker Coway has also topped the podium in the Malaysia’s water purifier market thanks to its product quality.

According to a Coway official, Wednesday, more than 430,000 Malaysian customers bought the company’s purifier products, leading sales to rise to a record-high 143 billion won last year, up by 46 percent from a year earlier.

“Our success in the Malaysian market is attributable to outstanding technology and differentiated customer services,” a Coway official said.

“We have already dominated Korea’s water and air purifier industries with market shares of 40 percent and 36 percent, respectively. Malaysian customers are also recognizing the company’s high quality.”

The official added that Coway’s differentiated technologies in air and water purifier products come from its R&D center where 14 Water Quality Association (WQA) certified specialists carry out various tests at its 50 laboratories.

The R&D center now has more than 1,150 patents in water purifiers, 400 patents in bidet products and 520 patents in air purifiers.

The Ministry of Environment designated the R&D center as its water inspection agency in 1996 while the WQA also selected the center as one of its quality test centers in 2008.

Coway introduced purifier rental services to Korea where the company’s 13,500 service coordinators provide regular maintenance, including filter replacement.

The company also brought the system to the Malaysian market in 2007. Currently, a total of 1,800 coordinators and 4,300 salespersons provide customer service in Malaysia.

Coway also had a showcase for its air and water purifiers as well as bidet products connected to internet of things technologies during this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Coway’s unique product design has also been praised in the global market as amply demonstrated by its 10 consecutive years of recognition by the iF Award, one of the top three global design awards.