[Edaily Reporter KIM EUNG-TAE ] Leading home appliance rental company COWAY(021240)is stepping up efforts to solidify its top position. Following its success with water purifiers, the company is establishing new rental products such as mattresses and air conditioners in the market and expanding its sales channels into global markets to strengthen its market dominance. With the company expected to surpass 5 trillion won in revenue for the first time in its history this year, the gap with its competitors is projected to widen further.

According to the Financial Supervisory Service on the 9th, COWAY’s consolidated second-quarter revenue for this year was provisionally estimated at 1.4422 trillion won, a 14.6% increase from the same period last year, while operating profit grew 4.3% to 253.2 billion won. Following the first quarter, COWAY set a new record in the second quarter as well, breaking its all-time quarterly performance record.
With record results achieved for two consecutive quarters, the company’s first-half performance also reached an all-time high on a half-year basis. First-half revenue for this year totaled 2.7719 trillion won, up 13.9% year-over-year, while operating profit rose 11.1% to 504.1 billion won.
COWAY’s strong performance is largely driven by increased sales of rental home appliances. As of the second quarter of this year, the number of rental accounts stood at 12.14 million, marking an 11.6% year-over-year increase. Domestic rental accounts reached 7.72 million, up 10.7% year-over-year, while overseas rental accounts jumped 13.2% to 4.41 million.
Driven by strong performance from new rental products, domestic business revenue for the second quarter of this year reached 786.8 billion won, a 7.7% increase year-over-year. Notable growth was seen in five models of ice-making water purifiers, as well as BEREX beds and massage chairs. BEREX drove this growth as its “R-Series Stretching Motion Bed” and “M-Series Massage Mattress Bed” rapidly gained market share. In addition, new rental products such as wall-mounted air conditioners, food waste disposers, and personal low-frequency stimulators have also begun to generate demand.
Overseas growth is also strong. As a result of applying the company’s door-to-door sales expertise overseas and implementing localization strategies—such as the launch of halal products—revenue from overseas subsidiaries in the second quarter of this year reached 587.5 billion won, a 24.2% increase year-over-year. Looking at sales by major subsidiary, the Malaysian subsidiary recorded 434.5 billion won, a 22.2% increase year-over-year. The Thai subsidiary posted the largest growth, with sales of 66.0 billion won, up 53.9% from the previous year. The U.S. subsidiary reported sales of 66.9 billion won, up 15.2% year-over-year, while the Indonesian subsidiary recorded sales of 13.3 billion won, a 12.2% increase.

As COWAY continues to dominate the rental market, the gap with its competitors is widening. Comparing first-quarter revenue growth by company, COWAY posted a double-digit growth rate of 13.2%, while CUCKOO HOMESYS and SK Intellix were limited to single-digit growth rates of 0.7% and 4.6%, respectively. Looking solely at the absolute figures, COWAY posted quarterly sales exceeding 1 trillion won, whereas both CUCKOO HOMESYS and SK Intellix recorded sales in the 200 billion won range—a gap of about five times. COWAY has maintained double-digit sales growth every quarter since the start of the year and is expected to comfortably surpass 5 trillion won in annual sales for the first time in its history.
COWAY’s strategy for the second half of the year is to solidify its leading position by expanding its lineup of rental home appliances. Kim Soon-tae, COWAY’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO), stated, “We demonstrated strong growth in the second quarter based on steady sales volume increases and account expansion both domestically and internationally.” He added, “In the second half of this year, we will strengthen our leadership in the premium market and begin in earnest to expand our growth drivers through product portfolio diversification, thereby continuing our visible upward trend in performance.”