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Buying the Function, Not the Product Itself

We can live with less without giving up our comforts

Do you turn on your heaters at home when you're cold in winter? Most of you probably have heaters in your house, but you don't really want all that equipment cluttering your home, do you? All we really want is the heat that they provide. Wouldn't it be great if we could buy only the heat and not the heaters?

In fact, this has actually become possible. In Japan there is a company called Nihonkai Gas in Toyama Prefecture. While they mainly sell gas, this company also sells gas appliances such as oven range units and heaters.

Nihonkai Gas started a new service of renting gas heating units during wintertime. This began from the idea that their customers have no use for heaters that are useless in summer. They only want the heat generated by these heaters in the wintertime. So the company decided, "Let's not sell them heaters, let's sell them heat."

So, at the beginning of winter, they rent gas-heating units to customers, and when it gets warm in the spring, the company comes to pick them back up. Since they have professionals to care for the heaters and store them properly until the following winter, the units will last longer those that sit around the rest of the year cluttering people's homes.

When Nihonkai Gas first announced in the fall that they would rent the heater for 3,000 yen (U.S.$28) per unit that winter, they were a big hit. Reservations for all 150 units were made immediately, and the demand was so great that they also rented out additional 100 units.

Anyone can rent these heaters during the cold season, and since they're collected in the spring, they won't take up precious storage space. The company also profits because all of the units will be kept well-maintained to rent out for several years, and their customers are satisfied with such a convenient service.

This way, the heaters themselves are given a long life span, which means that resources and energy for otherwise manufacturing new heaters are saved, and likewise, the waste of broken-down heaters is reduced. What an earth-friendly service!

Here, the key to great success was achieved not by focusing on selling a product--in this case, heating units--but on selling their function of providing warmth. By concentrating on the role or purpose of the product instead of on the product itself, we can reduce unnecessary damage to the earth without even sacrificing our comfort or happiness.

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