Dyson makes everyday products into status symbols — or spectacular flops
Dyson has built a reputation for transforming household appliances into high-end status symbols through futuristic engineering. While the company has seen massive success with vacuums, it has also faced notable failures when attempting to solve problems that consumers do not perceive as significant.
Why it matters
It illustrates the risks of innovation-led business strategies and the challenge of maintaining brand value when expanding into new product categories.
Dyson's products offer a tech-forward flair on household products. Some have won consumers' hearts, while others have flopped in spectacular fashion. Julien M. Hekimian/Getty Images for Dyson Dyson's companywide approach: find annoying appliances and engineer futuristic fixes. That technique has disrupted the vacuum and hair care industries, but flopped with cars. BI compiled a list of Dyson's big successes — and wild flops. Hair damage. Dusty floors . Hot rooms. These are the everyday annoyances Dyson thought it could fix with futuristic, highly engineered gadgets. The company, which carries the surname of its inventor-founder, James Dyson , built a billion-dollar business by taking sleepy home appliances and trying to make them less annoying. When those products hit, they hit big . When they don't, they're big flops.
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