Japan's high-tech toilet makers seek UK sales

The walls outside the otherwise minimalist bathroom cubicles in Toto's London showroom are adorned with messy scraps of paper, each with the header: "My first Washlet experience was ... ". One reads: "I became a child again".

Others range from fearful - "Very scary" - to rhapsodic - "Orgasmic", "Bangin!", "The most exciting toilet experience of my life!"

High-tech toilets have been common in Japan for 30 years. At least 70 per cent of households have one fitted.

They are more unusual outside the Japanese domestic market, but companies such as Toto are hoping to make them popular worldwide.

Toto, which sells them under the brand name Washlet, is growing steadily outside Japan. The company entered the European market with a base in Germany in 2008 and the London showroom opened in 2010. It forecasts that by the end of 2013 overseas sales of all its equipment will have risen 22 per cent year on year.

This is much higher than the 9 per cent rise in sales in Japan, but comes from a lower base. The company's overseas sales of housing equipment rose 9 per cent year on year in the second quarter of 2013 in the Americas and 16 per cent in Europe.

Hiroki Oizumi, global marketing officer for Lixil, the group that owns Inax, another Japanese high-tech toilet maker, says the prices of such products can be a barrier to new business within the UK and the US.

The "retail price of a shower toilet is significantly higher than a normaltoilet", he explains. "And people have no experience when they try to use it," which makes it a harder sell.

Mr Oizumi says that giving customers the "real experience is the key to expanding the market". However, high-tech toilet manufacturers cannot just rely on showroom visitors.

Sohei Nishida, Toto's London manager, thinks it can expand only by establishing the same bathroom preferences in Europe as Japan. He recognises talking about toilet habits can be unsociable, but Washlets certainly have enough features to discuss.

Floyd Case, a manager at the "concept store" in London's Clerkenwell, demonstrates how the technology works with a sheet of glass placed over a showroom toilet seat. A nozzle appears and squirts a spray of water up at the glass. He keeps up a running commentary as he presses buttons: "You can have an oscillating movement or massage and there is a drying system." The nozzle recedes and an avocado-shaped patch of water on the glass shrinks as the dryer gets to work.

Showrooms are a crucial way to convert people to using these toilets because they provide a way to test the product. Since setting up in London, Toto has also targeted potential customers in places such as five-star hotels to create awareness. It hopes that making the brand more recognisable will establish a bigger sales network and lead to more individual customers, as it has done in China, the Caribbean and the US.

Entry into other markets has been helped by technological developments. Other manufacturers are moving into making high-tech toilets, and the quest for more environmentally friendly products has given them a foothold in other markets.

David Krakoff, president of sales for Toto in the Americas, says the push for lower water consumption for toilets in Canada and the US gave Toto an opportunity to get into the region. "It wasn't hard to create toilets that flushed 1.6 gallons - they just weren't flushing what was in the bowl. Efficiency became a big deal and this is when we jumped in," he says.

The industry has been helped by the rapid development of technology. The pervasiveness of smart appliances has made smart toilets seem less odd.

Mr Krakoff is dismissive of the idea that people are worried about technology going wrong near their nether regions. "It's not an issue any more. We have ultra-high manufacturing standards ... we get almost no warranty claims on Washlets," he says.

Back in the UK, Mr Nishida does admit to one serious cultural barrier - British consumers are not enamoured with futuristic design.

"In Japan, we hear about how easy [the toilets are] to use or clean - that's what's important. But here there is more care for design. That's something we're still struggling with," he says.

"We don't have it yet, but I think that in the UK it is about classical, traditional design."

Despite the aesthetic challenge, he is ambitious. It took Toto 10 years to become established in China and "it needs to happen quicker than that here".

"Once [consumers] experience it, they know how good they are," Mr Nishida adds. "I am not worried."

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Toto Neorest AC Washlet

This self-cleaning toilet has an integrated UV light to break down organic substances.

It also sprays the bowl before and after use with electrolysed water, typically used to disinfect vegetables or as a mouthwash.

Inax Regio

The toilet has a sound system so that users can listen to classical music or relaxing sounds.

The bowl is fitted with lights that turn on when someone approaches, which is useful for stumbling, night-time visits.

Toto SG Washlet

The spray wand can be adjusted to wash front and back.

Water pressure and temperature can be regulated.

It has a heated seat and a lid that closes automatically.

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