Kobold (vacuum cleaner)

Last updated
Kobold
Product typeCleaning equipment and accessories
Owner Vorwerk
Produced by Vorwerk
Country Germany
Introduced25 May 1930;95 years ago (1930-05-25)
Website vorwerk.com

Kobold is the German brand of the Wuppertal-based company Vorwerk for its cleaning appliances, specifically for floor, hand and cordless vacuum cleaners, robotic vacuum cleaners and window vacuum cleaners.

Contents

Product range, sales and markets

Robot vacuum cleaner (2023 model) Vorwerk Kobold Saugroboter Modell VR7.jpg
Robot vacuum cleaner
(2023 model)

Under the Kobold brand, Vorwerk offers four types of cleaning appliances that are primarily used in households:

For decades, Vorwerk offered Kobold products exclusively through direct sales. [6] [7] Since 2011 [8] there have also been dedicated online stores, special online demonstrations and stores. [9] Kobold is represented in some European and Asian countries with its own national companies; in other countries, contractual partners, so-called distributors , are responsible for sales. [10] Italy is considered the most important foreign market. There, where the products are callef Folletto (from the name with which Vorwerk established itself the first subsidiary in the country in 1938), [11] Vorwerk sells the most appliances, in 2023 it was almost one in two. [12]

History

Model of 1935 VorwerkKobold1935 02 mod02 res.jpg
Model of 1935

The spread of radio stations and broadcast radio receivers in the 1920s led to a slump in sales of gramophones, which also affected Vorwerk as a manufacturer of gramophone motors. Vorwerk's chief engineer turned the gramophone motor into an electric hand vacuum cleaner, the Kobold. The appliance was reduced to the essentials: Motor, dust bag and handle. The patent for the Kobold “Model 30” was granted on May 25, 1930 [13]

Sales initially remained unsatisfactory, as the relatively low price of the appliance did not particularly motivate retailers to explain and demonstrate the use of the new appliance, which required explanation. It was only the introduction of direct sales that ensured a breakthrough on the German market. [14] From 1930 to 1935, 100,000 Kobold appliances were sold, and by 1937 the figure had risen to half a million. [15] Even before the start of World War II, Vorwerk founded its first foreign subsidiary in Italy. [16] In the 1930s, Vorwerk added accessories to the Kobold, for example devices for drying hair or grooming horses' coats. [17]

The range of accessories was expanded extensively after the war. [18] [19] From the 1950s onwards, Vorwerk set up subsidiaries, agencies and sales offices abroad, for example in the United States, South America and Japan. [20] In 1953, the threshold of one million Kobold appliances produced was exceeded. [15] In 1953, [21] the Kobold was also given the typical green and white colors of the time. [15] [22] In 1973, the 10 million mark was reached, in 1989 the 50 million mark. [15] In 2011, Vorwerk launched the Kobold robot vacuum cleaner, [21] three years later the window vacuum cleaner, [23] and in 2018 the cordless vacuum cleaner. [21]

From 2016 to 2019, Vorwerk was the main sponsor and shirt sponsor of the Italian Serie A soccer club ACF Fiorentina. The team also wore shirts with the Folletto logo. [11] [24]

Literature

References

  1. ↑ Vogel, Hannes; Niesmann, Andreas (2011-05-06). "Tod eines Handlungsreisenden" [Death of a Salesman]. Handelsblatt (in German). p. 54. Retrieved 2025-04-04– via Genios Presse.
  2. ↑ "Gute Akkustaubsauger sind oft teuer. Praktisch, wenn beim Reinigen kein Kabel stört – Welche Modelle sich wirklich lohnen" [Good cordless vacuum cleaners are often expensive. Practical when no cable gets in the way when cleaning - which models are really worthwhile]. Rhein-Hunsrück-Zeitung (in German). 2024-02-22. p. 9. Retrieved 2025-04-04– via Genios Presse.
  3. ↑ Finkel, Simone (2024-12-19). "Saugroboter mit und ohne Wischfunktion bei Stiftung Warentest: Zwei Modelle fahren Testsieg ein" [Robot vacuum cleaners with and without mopping function tested by Stiftung Warentest: Two models win the test]. Chip (in German). Retrieved 2025-04-04.
  4. ↑ Mainka-Wettstädt, Iris (2025-01-10). "So schön spießig" [So beautifully stuffy]. Zeit Online (in German). Retrieved 2025-04-04.
  5. ↑ Voß, Rian (2024-04-04). "Ein guter Fenstersauger mit Ecken und Kanten: Vorwerk Kobold VG100+ im Test" [A good window vacuum cleaner with rough edges: Vorwerk Kobold VG100+ tested]. Chip (in German). Retrieved 2025-04-04.
  6. ↑ Hudetz, Kai; Kaapke, Andreas (2009). "Direktvertrieb". Lexikon Handelsmanagement. Controlling – Führung – Marketing (in German). Frankfurt am Main: Deutscher Fachverlag. pp. 82–83. ISBN   978-3-86641-103-6.
  7. ↑ Czech-Winkelmann, Susanne (2009). "Direktvertrieb". Lexikon Sortimentspolitik. Gestaltung – Schnittstellen – Management – Kennzahlen (in German). Frankfurt am Main: Deutscher Fachverlag. p. 50. ISBN   978-3-86641-040-4.
  8. ↑ Marquart, Maria (2011-12-05). "Der „Kobold" lässt die Kunden antanzen" [The “Kobold” brings the customers in]. Spiegel online . Retrieved 2025-04-04.
  9. ↑ Vorwerk Geschäftsbericht 2020, p. 4, p. 9, p. 16, p. 18 p. 21.
  10. ↑ Kindermann, Andrea (2018). "Thermomix: Ein Küchenklassiker wird digital". In Gärtner, Christian; Heinrich, Christian (eds.). Fallstudien zur Digitalen Transformation. Case Studies für die Lehre und praktische Anwendung (in German). Wiesbaden: Springer Gabler. pp. 107–128, here p. 112. ISBN   978-3-658-18744-6.
  11. 1 2 Strahlendorf, Peter (2016-08-23). "Vorwerk engagiert sich als Trikot-Sponsor beim AC Florenz" [Vorwerk becomes a shirt sponsor of AC Florence]. New Business. Retrieved 2025-04-04.
  12. ↑ Schulte, Stefan (2024-05-07). "Vorwerk feiert mit Thermomix und Kobold neue Rekorde" [Vorwerk celebrates new records with Thermomix and Kobold]. Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung . Retrieved 2025-04-04.
  13. ↑ Battenfeld, Beate (1998). Kultstaubsauger Kobold. Der mit der Trockenhaube (in German). Berlin: Trescher Verlag. p. 14. ISBN   978-3-928409-74-2.
  14. ↑ Battenfeld, Beate (1998). Kultstaubsauger Kobold. Der mit der Trockenhaube (in German). Berlin: Trescher Verlag. pp. 16, 74, 78. ISBN   978-3-928409-74-2.
  15. 1 2 3 4 Battenfeld, Beate (1998). Kultstaubsauger Kobold. Der mit der Trockenhaube (in German). Berlin: Trescher Verlag. p. 116. ISBN   978-3-928409-74-2.
  16. ↑ Plate, Markus (2011). "Vorwerk & Co. KG". In Plate, Markus; Groth, Torsten; Ackermann, Volker; von Schlippe, Arist (eds.). Große deutsche Familienunternehmen. Generationenfolge, Familienstrategie und Unternehmensentwicklung (in German). Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. pp. 423–434, here p. 428. ISBN   978-3-525-40338-9.
  17. ↑ M. L. Cohen, updated by Helga Schier: Vorwerk & Co. KG. In: International Directory of Company Histories, Vol. 112. St. James Press, Detroit/New York etc. 2010, p. 475–479, here p. 476.
  18. ↑ Examples and photos at Battenfeld, Beate (1998). Kultstaubsauger Kobold. Der mit der Trockenhaube (in German). Berlin: Trescher Verlag. ISBN   978-3-928409-74-2.
  19. ↑ The trademark register of the German Patent and Trademark Office (DPMA) you can see the breadth of use. Trademark protection includes nozzles, hair drying hoods, cattle cleaning devices, floor polishers, liquid atomizers for insect control, disinfection and rust protection agents and for floor polish. See DPMA information about the Kobold brand: "Registernummer 740146". DPMA Trademark Register. 2019-11-17. Retrieved 2025-04-04.
  20. ↑ Battenfeld, Beate (1998). Kultstaubsauger Kobold. Der mit der Trockenhaube (in German). Berlin: Trescher Verlag. pp. 102–116. ISBN   978-3-928409-74-2.
  21. 1 2 3 Vorwerk SE & Co. KG. "Qualität und Innovation seit 1930" [Quality and innovation since 1930](PDF) (in German). Retrieved 2025-04-04.
  22. ↑ Today, green is only used for accentuation. See Stukenberg, Timo (2014-05-15). "Die ganze Welt liebt Thermomix" [The whole world loves Thermomix]. Wirtschaftswoche (online) (in German). Retrieved 2025-04-04.
  23. ↑ "Streifenfrei die Fenster putzen" [Clean windows without streaks]. Rhein-Zeitung (in German). 2014-04-11. p. 4. Retrieved 2025-04-04– via Genios Presse.
  24. ↑ Lloyd, Tom (2016-08-19). "Fiorentina in major Vorwerk tie-up". sportspro.com. Retrieved 2025-04-04.
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