Is the high-priced oxygen chamber that can "anti-aging" an IQ tax?
The lowest selling price is RMB 458,000 and the highest is RMB 758,000. Industry: Civil hyperbaric oxygen chamber industry standards need to be improved
Recently, the O2 ark "Time Wheel" with a unit price of nearly 560,000 yuan has exploded, with sales exceeding 10 million in six months.
According to Victall, an O2 ark brand, product inquiries and orders are still skyrocketing recently, and offline experience stores in Beijing and Shanghai are almost full of reservations.
However, the expensive "time wheel" has aroused widespread doubts. Can it really help people rejuvenate?
Is this black technology or IQ tax?
The minimum price of the oxygen chamber is 458,000 yuan
A reporter from Beijing Youth Daily saw on Victall’s official website that this product belongs to the company’s big health sector. There are 4 styles to meet different needs and scenarios, and accept private customization. Customers include individual families, as well as gyms and medical beauty institutions , senior clubs, etc.
A reporter from Beiqing Daily saw in the JD.com flagship store of this product that the prices of the four O2 ark oxygen chambers are 558,000 yuan, 758,000 yuan, 658,000 yuan, and 458,000 yuan, respectively.
The O2 ark oxygen chamber customer service said that none of these four models are in stock at present, and they need to be booked in advance, and they will arrive in about two months.
Due to the shortage of goods, there is no room for discounts in terms of prices.
In terms of function, the customer service claims that the product has antibacterial properties, enhances immunity, helps the body resist infection; improves the antioxidant capacity of cells, and can last at least 2 days after hyperbaric oxygen therapy (including enhanced antioxidant enzyme activity and non-enzymatic antioxidant Substance increase); delay aging, inhibit HIF pathway, improve inflammatory aging caused by hypoxia, chronic diseases, immune system disorders, rapid tumor development and other functions.
According to the official website, as of October 2022, in addition to first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, the company's products have radiated to Shandong, Fujian, Xi'an and other places, with a total of more than ten units sold, and even O2 ark has appeared in areas with thin oxygen. .
O2 ark "Time Wheel" sales exceeded 10 million yuan in 6 months.
Netizens questioned it as a new type of IQ tax
The price of a "time wheel" is equivalent to a flat in a small city. Where is the O2 ark hyperbaric oxygen chamber sacred? Is it "life extension" black technology or a new IQ tax?
A person engaged in medical services told a reporter from Beiqing Daily that hyperbaric oxygen therapy is actually not new. It has been born for a hundred years. Hyperbaric oxygen chambers generally have independent departments in tertiary hospitals to assist in the treatment of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. and hypoxic damage, etc., but the price of 600,000 to 700,000 units is really sky-high.
However, a staff member of the O2 ark oxygen chamber denied the "sky-high price" statement.
He said that the interior and exterior decoration of the O2 ark oxygen chamber is made of lightweight composite materials, which is in line with the standards of high-speed rail and private jets, and has a service life of at least 20 years.
The price of hundreds of thousands of a product is reasonable, and it has dropped by 75% compared to traditional medical oxygen chambers.
According to the user portrait released by the company, 90% of the users are high-income groups from super first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.
In addition, some health care institutions and clubs will also use this as a selling point to attract customers.
Shareholders of the company successively released shareholding reduction plans
With the blessing of O2 ark's "time wheel" concept, the stock price of Victall shares, a listed company, ushered in a sharp rise, and nearly doubled in the past 10 days.
On November 16, Victall shares once again achieved a daily limit, and within seven days, it has already achieved 5 daily limit.
However, while the company frequently sends out positive signals, shareholders have successively released plans to reduce their holdings.
In terms of performance, according to the company's third quarter report, the company's net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies in the first three quarters of 2022 was -110 million yuan, and the net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies after deducting non-recurring gains and losses was -141 million yuan.
It can be said that the poor performance of Victall shares and the successive proposals of shareholding reduction plans by shareholders cannot but arouse the imagination of shareholders.
industry statement
Relevant industry norms need to be further improved
A reporter from Beiqing Daily learned that although the development momentum of hyperbaric oxygen chamber is strong, it is still a brand new market as a daily civilian product, and there are still many things to be regulated.
An insider in the hyperbaric oxygen chamber industry told a reporter from Beiqing Daily that there are currently many companies claiming to be able to make hyperbaric oxygen chambers, but due to the lack of industry standards, the products are mixed.
For example, there is a rule in the standards formulated by the medical hyperbaric oxygen chamber: the operating voltage of the electrical equipment in the chamber shall not be higher than 24V, but the installation of a massage chair will make the voltage of the oxygen chamber equipment too high, coupled with the material of the chamber and other reasons, it is easy to cause more serious accidents. static electricity.
The quality of the products produced by some manufacturers is not up to standard at all, which inevitably poses safety hazards.
A reporter from Beiqing Daily noticed that the use of medical hyperbaric oxygen chambers must be trained by institutions designated by the Ministry of Health. After passing the examination, a certificate can be issued before operation. The training of hyperbaric oxygen chambers requires at least three to six months of training.
Most of the civilian hyperbaric oxygen chambers currently on the market do not involve relevant content.
Industry insiders pointed out that there is also a lack of standardization in the operation of civilian hyperbaric oxygen chambers, and some temporary training by sales companies is not enough.
Regarding Victall’s claim that the oxygen chamber has obtained EU CE certification, industry insiders believe that CE certification is a certification related to safety control in the EU, which can ensure the most basic safety guarantee of products, rather than general quality requirements.
CE certification controls product safety, regardless of product quality, and the CE mark is also a safety certification mark. Products with the CE mark can enter the European market.
For civil hyperbaric oxygen chambers, the relevant industry norms need to be further improved.
(Beijing Youth Daily article/Reporter Zhu Kaiyun)