South Korea’s leading water and air purifier maker Coway said it will make an aggressive move to expand its overseas market base this year.

According to the company, it aims to hit the target of 520 billion won ($480 million) of overseas sales in 40 countries this year, about 26 percent up from the previous year’s target. Overseas sales include the sales from overseas branches and original design manufacturing production, the company said. 

In 2017, Coway recorded 2.1 trillion won of business profit. 

Since the company tapped into the Malaysian market in 2006, it has been solidifying its water purifier rental service base with its low-cost monthly lease service for water purifiers. As the country’s first kind of rental scheme, it made water purifiers much more accessible to the local consumers, the company said.

Coway has about 8,200 locals working for the company. They include roughly 2,700 “Codys,” or Coway Ladies, who provide maintenance services, and 5,500 health planners, who make both maintenance and sales calls.

Last year, Coway’s Malaysian office recorded 207 billion won of sales, up 45 percent from the previous year. Over 653,000 units are now registered in their database, double the amount year-on-year.

Officials from the Malaysian office said it would expand its product lineup this year to reach 284 billion won of sales and secure at least 1 million units sold. 

Meanwhile, increased global attention for cleaner air has driven a sales increase in air purifiers globally, the company said.

In addition to Southeast Asian countries, the popularity of Coway’s air purifiers is growing in North American and European markets, where the market is large due to a high number of consumers with pets and indoor carpets. 

Last year, Coway teamed up with Amazon to develop hi-tech water purifiers equipped with artificial intelligence technology. Since then, Coway’s sales of air purifiers in the US have grown by 80 percent year-on-year, the company said. 

Coway’s US branch aims to reach 74.5 billion won of sales this year, up by 15 percent from the previous year. 

“Aiming high in terms of overseas sales means that our rental scheme of water and air purifiers is well received in global markets. We will continue to keep up with our product quality and customer management expertise to bolster our overseas base,” said Coway. 

Coway was established in Korea in 1989 and became a leader in the industry producing products such as water purifiers, air purifiers and kitchen appliances.

By Kim Da-sol (ddd@heraldcorp.com)