Calculating the true value of an Oreck vacuum cleaner

Oreck’s documented ambition is to stand out in a crowded marketplace by offering “more value than customers expect”. It is important to analyze Oreck’s total offer from this point of view. The following is included with the purchase of Oreck’s current flagship model, the Oreck XL21 Titanium:

• The Oreck XL 21 Titanium itself
• A separate Oreck Housekeeper canister vacuum cleaner
• Tune-ups for 21 years
• Lifetime HEPA filter replacements
• 21-year warranty
• 30-day trial with free shipping
• A cordless iron just for trying

The Oreck proposal in more detail

• An upright vacuum cleaner
  The Oreck XL21 Titanium itself has many professional qualities – a light weight, a wide cleaning path, an extra-long power cord, additional sound-dampening, front/side illumination and non-marring bumper and wheels – to make it an attractive investment for both professionals and home owners.
• A separate canister vacuum cleaner
  The Oreck Housekeeper canister vacuum cleaner has full HEPA filtration, a bottom cord wrap and a flexible hose. It can be carried on the shoulder or in your hand and comes with a complete set of accessories.
• Tune-ups for 21 years
  A “tune-up” consists of a number of routine maintenance operations. During a tune-up, several critical parts of your Oreck are replaced to extend its lifetime far beyond that of the average vacuum cleaner.
• Lifetime HEPA filter replacements
  The hypo-allergenic HEPA filters in Oreck vacs are replaced as part of the yearly tune-up, free of charge.
• 21-year warranty
  Apart from bags, belts and other consumables, all the parts and pieces on the Oreck XL21 Titanium are completely covered for 21 years.
• 30-day trial with free shipping
  If you’re not sure if the Oreck XL21 is right for you, you can take the free 30-day trial, with the Oreck shipped for free directly to your home. For one full month, you can then use it as often as you like and verify that it lives up to its promises. At the end of the free trial period, you can return it – with the return postage paid by Oreck.
• A cordless iron
  The Oreck Cordless Speed Iron is, well, without a cord. According to Oreck, it heats up in 60 seconds, and is reheated (while resting in the charger) in 5-10 seconds. The cordless iron is mainly an incentive to take the free trial, since you get to keep it even if you return the vacuum itself to Oreck.

“Taking the hard work out of housework”

Most companies want their customers to return and buy another product. With that in mind, isn’t it strange for a company like Oreck to throw in 21 years of free service and a 21-year warranty with some of their vacuum cleaner models? Looking at the total offer, isn’t it even more strange that with the purchase of an upright Oreck Vacuum you also get a full-blown cannister vacuum for other cleaning needs? Why doesn’t Oreck provide this as extra “up-selling” options instead, to be able to give a discount on the initial price of the main product?

Listening to Oreck’s charismatic founder, David Oreck, can give some insight into how this company cunningly positions itself against its competitors:

The most important advice I can give you is to carve a niche for yourselves and your brand. Try to break away from the norm and give the customers something more than they expect. If that is done, people will buy a product at the quoted price and not go to companies that sell it cheap. – thebatt.com

We don’t build to a price constraint. We build the best vacuum we can, then we look to make savings. Consumers are very happy with our products and are prepared to pay for them: our sales are growing, while others are shrinking. The Oreck vacuum cleaner is priced at a premium but we believe that people will pay for quality, and our success shows we are correct. – themanufacturer.com

I saw an opportunity to carve out a niche for myself in the cleaning world by offering customers a lightweight alternative. The first Oreck vacuum weighed only eight pounds. My niche was taking the hard work out of housework. It was so light, you could lift it on your finger! – utexas.edu

“More than customers expect”

Did you ever watch a product demonstration in a department store? Adding item after item to the total package enables demonstrators to attract and maintain your attention while you listen to arguments on why to buy the product. For Oreck, it’s worth a lot just to have you listen to them in the highly competitive marketplace for household appliances.

Here’s what Oreck estimates that their extras are worth:

Obviously, adding related products increases the perceived value of the total offer. But of course, no-one can tell the true value of all these extras except the customer. Will you use the separate canister vacuum, or will it just occupy shelf space? Will you keep the Oreck for the 21 years that Oreck offers to maintain it for you?

Summing up, we believe the most valuable offer you get from Oreck is the free 30-day trial. Without it, you won’t even know what you’re missing.