Global Vacuum Cleaner Use

[georgect]

Interesting read of how the world vacuums.

http://www.appliancemagazine.com/editorial.php?article=2472&zone=114&first=1

 

[madabouthoovers]

China..

What a Surprise about China - 17% of Chinese only vacuum once a month, only 3% of Chinese are concerned about Quality/Durability, and only 2% of Chinese are concerned about power consumption. And yet the Chinese make the most of the world's vacuum cleaners. Wonderful.

 

[madabouthoovers]

Bagged Canisters account for 46% globally, and bagged uprights at 6%. This figure about bagged canister surprises me.


 


Bagless uprights account for 7% globally, and bagless canister at 17%.


36% of users find noise levels most annoying about a vacuum.


 


Makes you wonder how Dyson does so well, doesn't it?

 

[matt8808]

It certainly made for interesting reading

 

[luxman107]

Interesting stuff. Thanks for finding and posting

 

[whirlpolf]

indeed surprising

What is most interesting for me is the fact that most people are angry about the noise. Apparently "turbo scream" does not mean "turbo action" anymore (hello Kirby, can you get that? *wink*)

Glad to know that I am an average picker-up compared to what goes around worldwide.

Bagless? Not anymore. I think Dyson's success is mainly in the UK. Around here most people (of course including those high-maintenance allergy bitches, excuse my despicable wording, but I have no other for sniffy-nosed and ever so freezingly cold-feeling skinny mothers driving their prissy brats around for school in an SUV through our cramped-up historical inner cities) but even normally wired people, they all mistrust the "quick-release" plastic bins entirely. (Including myself after several nasty experiences).

Dysons are the very few (among some others) cyclone vacs that work (all others are paper cone filtered discount vacs = crap), but all of them have the "coughing dust cloud" syndrome upon emptying them. (Even out at the waste bin, it remains an unsolved disadvantage to say the least.
My guess: Black&Decker and Dyson Continental Europe have had their share of ruining the image of cyclone vacs around here.

France and Germany "high wattage" freaks? Sorrow fills my heart, but this is entirely true. Hey, what do you expect of well-earning middle-class a...holes pushing you along the freeway with LED or xenon headlights flashing for impatience at a speed of 150 km/h (roughly 80-100 mph) and a distance less than one car length? (the speed mentioned being the max for a regular station wagon, but way too slow for them). What?
As long as they can afford it, they will never care for speeds/ gas consumption / wattage. (Market research surveys tell us about an average household stash of 10 to 15 grand outside of banks = read: somewhere in a coffee bin / piggy bank or in other home containers).

So outside of all environmentally "green" and "I am so clean" confessions (all fake) = the average German daddy can "afford" to waste watts (read: can afford to show his "longer one" (electric bill) to his neighbor. A rat race for HPs, just like back in the 60s, no more than that. No wonder to me.

The comparison to driving cars seems pretty decent to me, taking into account how German or French drivers behave:

Cars, French versus Germans:
Both speeding like hell.
Both using the horn: The Germans "to teach some idiot a lesson" (which sounds more arrogant and it is), the French to tell them "watch out, I might be quicker, be aware!" (which sounds friendlier, and it is) - (But speeding? Both).

Vacuums, French versus Germans:
Both getting hot on wattage.
Both buying the amperage hogs alike.
Both knocking them up to max power at all times used, no matter how simple the job.
The Germans "hey, the fuse blew! I will sue you for taking away MY right to vac whenever I want" (which sounds nastier, and yes it is).
The French: "Oops, watch out, the fuse might blow - I will keep cleaning, once it blows, you ring my bell, will you?" *door slam* (which sounds more cooperative, which it might be, were it not for the slammed door).
But still: Both devouring electricity (The French having a more relaxed stance towards nuclear power, at least let's give them THIS honesty reward).

Believe me, I have grown up way down there where the borders of both countries touch within a 5 min range.
Have a beer ready (Germany) or some Pastis or red wine (France) to cool your nerves after a "hard" day of work or driving and after a HARD day of competition... ;-)

 

[madabouthoovers]

If bagged uprights only account for 6% of the worlds vacuums, and continental Europe only seem to use canisters, then why do SEBO produce the X series and the Felix bagged uprights, and Miele produce the S7? Do the Germans actually use bagged uprights, or are these vacs only produced to be exported to the UK and US?


I presume the only countries that use upright vacs (Bagged or bagless) is the US and UK, as their use is only 13% of total vac sales worldwide. That is very surprising indeed.

 

[whirlpolf]

good you mention it, thanks.

Indeed, SEBO vacs are sold in specialised vacuum shops only over here. The average consumer does not even know them to exist as a brand (apart for some freaks like me). Let alone that they had derived out of a former Vorwerk competition thing.

The only thing that is for sure for the "average" buyer is the stuff that they are getting in the chain stores (MediaMarkt, Saturn, Kaufhof, Otto.de, Amazon) = no uprights at all anymore, mostly canisters or rechargeable upright stick vacs or robots for the better-off).

There are some trifle Dyson upright displays here and there (Expert.de and the like), but I have never seen a Sebo in a mainstream shop for years and years. Those came only back to me as a "foreign phenomenon" re-entering here only for me to discover that they are actually German (and that SEBO is a German abbreviation, I have learned this through here on Vacuumland.)

 

[madabouthoovers]

Really, that also surprises me, that the average German has never heard of SEBO - they (Stein & Co GmbH) make them in Velbert, Germany, and its stands for SEmigewerbliche BOdenpflege, meaning Semi-Commercial Floorcare. They have been around since the 70's. That's a bit of a shock, and if SEBO aren't selling well in Germany, its no wonder they aren't releasing many new models, the X series is now 23 years old! I use a SEBO X4 bagged upright all the time now, its my favourite upright.


 


As far as I'm concerned, the Germans make the best Vacuum Cleaners in the world.

 

[whirlpolf]

A shame indeed, I agree with you

That is right, they do not update very often.
Too bad, as their canister "Air belt" is a very fancy and logical concept to me. I had the chance to use a borrowed one for a day and I was very pleased.

The Felix however was not too much to my liking. (I used it with the disk unit for polishing floors). The maneuverability fell back behind the older 1960's Vorwerks, the cleaning power was similar though. Yet it feels insecure to fear the machine wandering off just to bump into furniture around. The usual push-down push-up does not work with the felix Disc (as it does for normal single disk machines).

Yet the Airbelt is such a nice concept of doing away both with the nasty exhaust air stream and with the danger of scarring furniture: Now how simpler can it be? A fabric belt to protect and a fabric belt (the same belt) to slow down unwanted drafts of air? Used it once for half a day (only, bad for me) but I loved it. And so silent! The nozzle was louder than the main unit.
Not cheap, but definitely worth it! And midnight blue with sunflower belt, that looks GOOD! Nice one.

 

[madabouthoovers]

Yes, I'd imagine the K and D series Airbelt would be more popular in Germany, as they are canisters. I own a K3 Vulcano, and love that too. I am just pleased that SEBO don't produce a bagless vacuum, but with the figure that 46% of the world's vacuums are bagged canisters, that's the reason why SEBO are sticking to bagged.


Bagged is best, by far.


 


My SEBO K3 Vulcano:

 

[madaboutsebo]

I do like that SEBO K3 Vulcano colour scheme. I agree with you bagged are best. Wouldn't if said that 5 or do years ago!!

 

[sebo_fan]

Germany doesn't know the SEBO brand domestically, yet they are aware of the brand in the commercial field. You can often find old SEBO uprights being sold on EBAY.de with the commercial tags and additional names like "Sorna."

Looking at this older thread but is still valid shows off the older earlier SEBO commercial uprights that ry_ry owns and has made a splendid contribution to this site alongside Chris.

SEBO don't update often because they are a private company and only make vacuums.

Numatic in the UK are the same - they only make vacuums and commercial cleaning - they don't make major improvements on the models that constantly keep selling.

It doesn't surprise in the least about Asia's love for bagged vacuums - Japan for example are fastidiously clean - most of their appliances come with an antibacterial coating before first use - and China aren't that far behind for being just as clean.

Just because something is produced in that country doesn't automatically entitle it to become a major user of it.

Another report that I supplied on here shows Bosch are the highest brand for vacuums in Germany - which begs the question as to why it isn't Miele.

 

[sebo_fan]

Vintage SEBO thread: http://www.vacuumland.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?17090