From Zero to One – Building an Office Chair Brand that Adapts to the Needs of Work in the New Era

As the growing prevalence of renewable energy and intelligent technologies has continued to redefine the auto industry, the need for innovation has become the ever more pressing priority for the automotive seating segment. Imagine a future where vehicles become mobile offices or living rooms on wheels. This leads to the question: will passenger car seats evolve into office chairs, sofas, or even furniture for relaxation? 

Finding itself in the middle of a seismic shift in industry landscape, the Bo Ao Group, a leading supplier of automotive seating, has been actively exploring new strategies for future growth trajectory. More and more car brands are creating their own direct-sale stores to get closer to consumers. As a result, for car seating providers, it is more difficult to hear the real voice of consumers, which is the original intention of the Bo Ao Group to develop a second curve of growth. The Group has tapped into the broader market of seating offerings for retail consumers, featuring products such as office chairs and child safety seats. For the Bo Ao Group, the new B2C strategy will not only help identify and capture new sources of growth, but also bring  new insights and skill sets to its core business. 

The launch of a new home office chair brand marks the first step of the Bo Ao Group’s journey of strategic transformation. China has a vast office furniture market without a clearly dominant player. Premium imported brands and cheap, no-name e-commerce brands form two ends of the spectrum in an increasingly polarized market. Existing products have a hard time meeting the evolving needs of consumers, who look for comfort, aesthetic, and functionality. The lack of high-quality offerings in the mid-to-high-end price range is particularly pronounced.  

Leveraging on its scale, as well as its manufacturing and engineering prowess, the Bo Ao Group set in motion its plan to launch a new brand of office chairs specifically designed for the China market to capture the underserved mid-to-high-end segment of a highly fragmented home furniture market. With that goal in mind, the Bo Ao Group, equipped with a detailed set of strategies and objectives, approached IDEO to help design a human-centered brand and product line that would effectively cater to the prevailing needs of today’s consumers.

Key Insights for the Modern ‘Office’

The topic of office and work has garnered much attention as of late, fueled by a growing popularity of mobile working. The pandemic has moreover reshaped ways in which people work and where they work. To gain a more intimate understanding of what drives consumer behaviors, the IDEO team began an extensive field research at the onset of the project, conducting interviews on different consumer segments, visiting and documenting their home and office  configurations and rationales to understand their behaviors and feelings. 

It became apparent to IDEO that people are gradually favoring a more flexible and nimble workspace as new work habits develop, work and life become increasingly integrated. Work is no longer the antithesis of life, but a part of it. Meanwhile, people are demanding a superior quality of life, which has led to a new set of consumer needs in office furniture. In particular, as work-from-home takes hold, new patterns of work behaviors emerge, creating different needs and pain points. Consumers tend to have a different expectation on functionality, comfort, aesthetics and emotional engagement for their home office furniture, needs that many traditional options would find it difficult to fulfill. Consequently, these research insights have enabled us to reexamine the status quo and identify what ought to be the industry standards for life in the new normal, which requires a rebalancing of comfort, appearance and efficiency.

On the basis of our research, as well as a benchmarking analysis completed against the data and specifications of competing products, IDEO proposed an ergonomic design that embodies high functionality without the loss of comfort, while staying visually and stylistically appealing, with the overarching goal of cultivating a strong brand name that resonates with consumers, delivering superior user experience and creating a highly complementary product that is synergistic with the Bo Ao Group’s existing operations.

Beyond Work

This led to the birth of “座为ZUOWE”, which takes the same sound from “作为”, meaning achievement. It not only indicates the progression in one’s career, but also the achievement of a lifetime. The brand wants to make people achieve more through superior seating products. ZUOWE is dedicated to creating premium seating experiences. ZUOWE designs  for efficiency and exists for feelings. Through products that balance performance and aesthetics, ZUOWE creates experiences that you will look forward to.

Based on this brand value proposition, the team wanted  to appeal to a customer segment we call ‘Quality Asserters’ - this describes those with high expectation of quality and high purchasing power; with a clear goal and rhythm in life; they put a lot of thought  into planning space at home, and are willing to pay more for what they believe meet their quality requirement.

Warm Technology

“ZUOWE” is dedicated to offering optimum support for the body that enables productivity; creating products that are aesthetically appealing and blend into any environment by applying modern design language, premium materiality, and superior craft technique; delivering intuitive features for easy access and adaptability.

The IDEO and Bo Ao teams worked closely throughout the project, combining the Bo Ao Group’s manufacturing experience and expertise in ergonomics and innovative materials, with IDEO’s human-centered design approach to create a unique design concept - one that is aesthetically elegant yet subtle, employing colors and fabrics inspired by home furniture that naturally blend into its surroundings; a selection of high-tech materials and layered breathable foam that conveys a skin-like sensation; an ergonomic design that offers maximum spinal and cervical vertebra comfort; a zero-gravity reclining mechanical structure. Each product feature is designed to address consumer pain points, offering users a pleasant sensual and emotional experience.     

Zuowe’s inaugural collection “Inspire”, is launched in two models engineered to cater to the needs of different groups of target customers.

At the brand level, given that e-commerce is the main channel for launch, IDEO has planned and designed every practical aspect of the the brand expression, from visual presentation, font, color, layout, and icons to communication content, so as to ensure that each design component articulates a consistent message of the brand’s image and value. For the user experience, IDEO designed considerate packaging features, user instructions and an unboxing experience, providing a consistent end-to-end user experience, as well as laying the groundwork for other channels and future product extensions.

Since its launch in April 2021, the ZUOWE ergonomic office chair has been widely acclaimed, achieving a total monthly sales volume of more than 2 million RMB, and is favored by many consumers on e-commerce platforms. In 2022, ZUOWE office chair was launched internationally in the UK, Japan, Thailand and Malaysia, and won a number of international design awards, including prestigious Red Dot Design Award 2021 and Good Design Award 2021. 

In addition to being an efficient tool to meet people's daily work needs, the ZUOWE office chair advocates a human-centered design concept that provides consumers with psychological and emotional comfort. Through the cooperation with IDEO, the Bo Ao Group is further inspired by "design thinking" and has extended the user experience to the entire brand journey, from the trial sitting experience to surprising levels of care for regular customers, all reflecting the brand's commitment to being user-first and people-oriented. Meanwhile, it will also continue to influence the brand's future development strategy.