We’ve sold one million dehumidifiers!

We’ve officially sold one million dehumidifiers!

In celebration of selling one million dehumidifiers, we sat down with Chris Michael, Managing Director of Meaco, to ask him about how it feels to achieve this, the journey it’s taken to get here and Meaco’s goals for the future. But first, let’s dive into a bit of the history of Meaco. 

When Chris and Michelle Michael first started Meaco in 1991, the aim was to specialise in monitoring and control equipment for museums and art galleries. A year later, Meaco developed the world’s first radio based environmental monitoring system in conjunction with the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, giving the Meaco brand a much higher profile. Over the next 10 years, Meaco established itself as one of the most important suppliers of humidity monitoring and control equipment to museums across Europe.

In 1999, Meaco were approached by Mitsubishi Electric to become their sole distributor for their range of portable dehumidifiers in the UK. This was the start of a successful relationship that flourished for the next 20 years.

In 2005 Chris and Michelle sold the museum side of the business to concentrate their efforts on the rapidly expanding sales of domestic dehumidifiers. 

You can read more about our history up until now here.

Q&A with Chris Michael, Managing Director at Meaco

1 million dehumidifiers! Can you walk us through the story of the business, from founding the business in the early 90s though to distributing across Europe and reaching this milestone?

“To start with, it was just myself and Michelle in a small office in West Sussex and we specialised in selling humidity monitoring and control equipment to museums and art galleries across Britain. The big change came in 1999 when almost by accident we became Mitsubishi Electric’s dehumidifier distributor for the UK. Working with a massive Japanese company like Mitsibishi teaches you so much and their machines were then, and are today, seen as being amongst the best in the world. So that gave us a good benchmark.
When we were ready to start putting together our own range, we took everything that we had learnt from serving museums and working to the Japanese standards and tried to infuse that into our own designs. It has taken several years to really get that right, but I think that we are in a great place now.”

How does it feel to have sold 1 million dehumidifiers?

“It is a magical figure that not many companies in the world will pass and it is something that we can be proud of. But selling quantity is only part of the equation, what is important to us is that we have done this whilst staying at the quality end of the market and without dropping standards to just achieve landmarks like this.”

What does it mean for Meaco to have reached this incredible milestone?

“It is something that all the team can be really proud to have been part of. From the design and quality engineers through to the customer service team who look after the customers once they have purchased. It has been a real team effort, and I am really happy for them all.”

Did you ever imagine that you’d sell this many?

“For years our quantities sat at a consistent, but quite average level. As soon as consumers started to think more about energy consumption and using their dehumidifier to save money then we really took off because we are the natural home for those sorts of customers. The last few years have seen sales per year quadruple and I think that the next million will come within five years which is remarkable.”

What advice would you have for customers who have purchased a Meaco dehumidifier; how can you get the most out of your unit?

“Let it run! So many customers just turn them on for a couple of hours a day and then wonder why they are not getting the results that they desire. I would set the dehumidifier to 50 or 55%rh and then just leave it. Let it decide when it must run and when it should turn off, that is best for your home and for your own health. Turning it on and off manually is a false economy.

“Also look after the machine, just clean its filter every few weeks and the machine will be cheaper to run, it will make less noise and it will last longer.”

And for customers who are yet to join this 1 million, and are yet to buy a dehumidifier, what would you say are the 3 headline benefits for running a dehumidifier in your home?

1. Less condensation and mould
2. Faster, cheaper laundry drying
3. Cheaper home heating

What has been the biggest challenge?

“Being brave enough. There has always been this thing in Europe that everyone is obsessed by price and looks for the cheapest. This is a barrier to quality and a barrier to innovation. So, when we designed the Low Energy range we were really bucking the trend in Europe by letting the production costs go up in order to get a better quality product for our customers. But this made us a premium product. Thankfully customers could see that the quality and longevity of the product was worth paying that little bit extra for.”

How has the dehumidifier industry changed over the years?

“There is so much more competition now, marketplaces like Amazon make that possible and the number of available brands now is incredible. Only buying online by looking at pictures and text doesn’t allow the consumer to see and feel the quality of the plastic or hear the noise level and tone of the machine. But that is the world we live in. This makes quality reviews and information more valuable.”

Why has the dehumidifier industry grown so much over the last 5 years?

“The industry has always been large in many parts of the world, but in the UK, we have been slow to catch up. For example, in some countries, you have to put on house sale details that the home HAS been protected with a dehumidifier. In the UK, if you were selling your home, you would hide the dehumidifier before prospective buyers come round so that they don’t think that you have a damp problem! Elsewhere people have been drying their clothes with a dehumidifier for years and it is common practice. They know that this protects the clothes, can be faster, and is certainly cheaper than a tumble dryer.”

“With the internet and the high cost of energy, people have started to think about how to save money, and a dehumidifier is an excellent starting point. The internet helps to spread that message faster.”

“People create moisture in the home and, during COVID, there were more people in their homes for longer. This caused more damp issues and at the time more available money to invest in solutions that would benefit them and their dehumidifiers.”

“If there is increased demand for a product then the media will take note and start to write about it, this has happened during COVID and then with the high energy bills. The increased exposure has resulted in increased sales and the two are now feeding each other.”

Sky’s the limit, what will the next milestone(s) be for Meaco?

“I think that winning all of the awards and leading the industry is nice but for me the three things that really stand out are:

• Praise and positive feedback from our customers; so more of that, as it tells us that we are moving in the right direction.
• Continuing to have happy staff who take pride in being part of a world class organisation here in the UK.
• Convincing the rest of the industry to follow our lead and be more energy conscious and sustainable.

To end

We believe that owning a dehumidifier really does protect your home, your health and your family. Join the 1 million across the world who think the same today.

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