Luxury goods manufacturers have long tailored products from cars to jeans for affluent Chinese consumers. Now, Chinese tastes are beginning to influence the design of the products the rest of the world buys – including toilets.
Take the $6,400 “smart” toilet from Kohler, for example. The global plumbing fixtures company designed its top of the line “Numi” toilet in the US and China. While the Numi is targeted at US and Chinese consumers, it has several features inspired primarily by China’s entertainment- obsessed consumers – not to mention their cold loos.
The heated footrest, designed for chilly Chinese water closets, has proved one of its most popular features globally, says David Kohler, president of the family firm founded by his great-grandfather in 1873. The toilets’ sleek iTouch style remote – which controls an internal music system and the temperature of the seat – has proved popular outside China, he says. The Numi, which drew crowds at a Shanghai trade exhibition, has been viewed on YouTube by close to 400,000 people. It also stars in video adverts shown in 10,000 Shanghai taxis.