Electrolux Vacuum

The Electrolux vacuum empire was founded on the basis of quality, innovative products and unique and eye-catching marketing. Swede Axel Wenner-Gren took the vacuum cleaner to the masses, after spotting the potential of the product, following its invention by H.C Booth in 1901.

Before founding Electrolux, Wenner-Gren bought a share in a U.S company responsible for some of the first mass-produced vacuum cleaners, Santo Staubsauger. After selling the cumbersome vacuum cleaners in Germany for a period, Wenner-Gren returned to his native Sweden, where he would join forces with 2 other entrepreneurs, to eventually create the lighter, more compact Electrolux vacuum.

The Electrolux brand name is a hybrid of 2 former companies, namely Elektromekaniska and Lux. Elektromekaniska was formed in 1910 to produce motors for a vacuum cleaner that was based on the Santo model that Wenner-Gren had previously sold. Lux, on the other hand, was founded in 1901 and was a manufacturer of kerosene lamps. With a drop in demand for these due to the advent of electric lighting, Lux joined forces with Elektromekaniska to produce the Electrolux vacuum cleaner.

Wenner-Gren’s role in the new product was its sales and marketing, an area in which he excelled and which helped him to gradually gain more of a share in the Electrolux vacuum cleaner company, and successfully brought the new Lux 1 vacuum cleaner to Germany, the U.K and France.

The merger of Lux and Elektromekaniska occurred in 1919, with Wenner-Gren becoming president and major shareholder in the newly formed company. 2 years later, the first Electrolux vacuum, the Lux V was introduced. This differed from the conventional vacuum cleaners of the time in that it glided along the floor on runners as opposed to wheels and was a serious contender to the dominance of the upright Hoover machines currently on the market.

As previously mentioned, one of the main areas which have helped Electrolux vacuum cleaners to enjoy success is in its sales and marketing operations. In the beginning, innovative and unique advertising campaigns were complimented by home demonstrations. The fact that the Electrolux vacuum was offered with instalment payment plans made them an attractive proposition to consumers. In particular, the story of how the Electrolux vacuum cleaner made it into the Vatican helped the company to go down in infamy.

Alongside 4 competitors, the Electrolux vacuum company was invited to demonstrate their products on a section of the Pope’s carpet. When it came to his turn, instead of vacuuming his own allocated section of carpet, Wenner-Gren went over the carpet which had already been vacuumed by his competitors. Revealing the amount of dust which had failed to be picked up convinced the papacy that an Electrolux vacuum cleaner was the one to go for.

This is just one example of the radical approach, which has helped the Elecolux vacuum company to stay at the forefront of vacuum technology for the best part of a century.