Vorwerk Overview, Products, & Reviews

Vorwerk & Co. is a German Family-owned direct sales company headquartered in Wuppertal, Germany. The company was started in 1883 by the Vorwerk brothers and was initially the manufacturer of high-quality carpet and upholstery. After World War 1, the company began diversifying its product lines and introduced new products, such as gear units and electric motors for gramophones.

Roughly at that time, radio was introduced, and the sales of gramophones dropped significantly. This gave birth to what is now the flagship product from the brand, Vorwerk Kobold, a high-performance vacuum cleaner powered by the motor obtained from the gramophone. However, the product sales in the initial days were extremely low or not profitable. That's when the company shifted the model to direct selling and racked up substantial profits over the next two years, selling over 100,000 units.

Now, the Vorwerk group has about 27 companies under its umbrella, operating in over 70 countries worldwide in 8 different businesses. The most notable ones among them include Thermomix (kitchen appliances), Jafra Cosmetics (Cosmetics, skin, and body care), Lux Asia Pacific (Household appliances), and AKF Group (Financial services). The company's total sales force consists of roughly 590,000 representatives working across all 70 countries, generating about $4.60 billion worth of annual revenue.

So far, the company hasn't been in any controversy and is driving to achieve excellence through financial transparency, a supportive environment, and countless opportunities for opportunity seekers. Moreover, the company is also a champion of sustainability. It conducts all the practices to help ensure a safe and sound environment for coming generations.

Vorwerk deals in several products and services, each holding its own division, as mentioned. Following are some flagship products from each one:

Thermomix

Thermomix is one of Vorwerk's best-selling divisions, founded in 1970 with a single kitchen appliance- the "Original Thermomix" VM2000. The device can cook and mix and is equipped with new technologies and features to meet the needs and demands of the day.

The latest model in the line is the TM6, which, along with mixing and cooking, also provides the user access to more than 75000 recipes. Thermomix is sold in over 16 countries across Europe, America, Asia, and North America through independent distributors. 

Kobold

Kobold is another flagship division from Vorwerk and it was established when the company moved from upholstery and carpeting to electronics. As mentioned, this was also the first product with which the company introduced direct selling to their business model. Kobold products are sold through 12 different subsidiaries in 12 different countries across Europe and Asia through 25 distributors. 

Akf Group

Akf Group was established by Vorwerk in 1968, and today, it is one of Germany's largest leasing and financing companies. The company provides financing to all small and mid-sized financing companies. To ensure the best service, it stays current with all the trends and developments in the industry to catch up with the market demand effectively. 

Neato Robotics

While Neato robotics works as an independent unit in the Vorwerk Group and has its own brand identity, both companies continuously cooperate with each other to make products that make a difference. The current flagship of the brand is a robot vacuum cleaner, which is sold online as well as through trading partners across North and South America, Europe, and Asia.