Bodyfriend, Cuckoo, Athom, Hats target European market with niche appliance strategy at IFA 2026

South Korean mid-sized and small appliance makers are making their presence felt at IFA 2026, one of the world's three largest consumer electronics fairs. Rather than competing head-on with Chinese manufacturers in traditional large-appliance categories such as TVs, refrigerators and washing machines, the companies are focusing on niche product lines — healthcare robots, K-food cooking appliances and food-waste processors — to carve out a foothold in the European market.

IFA 2026 opened in Berlin, Germany, on Thursday and runs through Tuesday, drawing more than 1,900 companies from 49 countries. The standout Korean exhibitor this year is Bodyfriend, which built its booth around healthcare products that combine AI and robotics rather than conventional home appliances. The company set up in the "Beauty Tech & Wellbeing" exhibition hall, showcasing healthcare robots and AI massage technology.

Bodyfriend took home two IFA 2026 Innovation Awards — for its biosignal-analysis generative AI product "733 AI Pro" and its perineal-care massage sofa "Medical Vivaldi." While major appliance brands are extending AI into convenience features on existing products such as refrigerators and washing machines, Bodyfriend is applying AI to personalized massage and health management.

The company is also differentiating itself in overseas markets with robotics technology that drives the left and right legs independently. Its generative AI-equipped products analyze conversations with users to combine massage movements and create individualized programs.

Cuckoo put K-food front and center at the show. The company, which has built its overseas reputation on rice cookers, unveiled 49 models of kitchen and home appliances for the European market — including rice cookers, multi-cookers, water purifiers, coffee machines and beauty devices.

A highlight was the "K-Food Maker," a cooking appliance designed for European consumers that can prepare tteokbokki, kimchi stew, ramyun and barbecue. Cuckoo said its entire initial European supply sold out.

Cuckoo currently exports to 12 European countries, including Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, and said its European sales have been growing about 30 percent annually. The strategy is to build on the proven success of its rice cooker and use the spread of K-food as a springboard to expand into cooking appliances more broadly.

Athom participated in IFA with food-waste processors and small appliances. Its home appliance brand Minix has been targeting the small-appliance market for one- and two-person households — a segment that larger appliance makers have largely overlooked. At this year's IFA, Minix displayed a mini dryer and food-waste processor as it tests the waters in Europe.

The food-waste processor has become a key growth product for Athom. According to market research firm NielsenIQ, Minix held a 30 percent share of domestic food-waste processor sales in 2025. As of July this year, cumulative brand sales reached 550,000 units.

Demand for food-waste processors is also becoming less seasonal. Athom said Minix food-waste processor sales from December 2025 through February this year rose 169 percent compared with the same period a year earlier, and were up 54 percent even against the previous summer months of June through August last year. The company said demand that had been concentrated in summer — when odors are most severe — is now spreading throughout the year.

Hats also brought its food-waste processor to IFA in a bid to enter the European market. Having first participated in IFA last year, Hats expanded its lineup this year to include kitchen hoods, induction cooktops, bathroom ventilation units, sink bowls, faucets and food-waste processors.

The move reflects the company's effort to shed its image as a hood specialist and reposition itself as a comprehensive kitchen solutions provider covering cooking, washing and food-waste disposal. Its exhibition space was organized into a "Cooking Zone" pairing hoods with induction cooktops, and a "Washing Zone" linking sink bowls, faucets and food-waste processors.

The push by Korean companies into niche categories is driven in large part by the rapid expansion of Chinese firms at IFA. The number of Chinese exhibitors registered for this year's show rose to 932 from 691 last year — an increase of 241 companies, or 34.9 percent — accounting for nearly half of all participants. By contrast, the number of Korean companies and institutions fell 25.5 percent, from 106 last year to 79 this year, marking a second consecutive annual decline from 127 in 2024.

As Chinese companies compete on sheer product volume and exhibition scale, South Korean mid-sized and smaller firms are drilling deeper into their respective specialties. Bodyfriend leads with AI and healthcare robots, Cuckoo with K-food and cooking appliances, Athom with small appliances and food-waste processors, and Hats with kitchen and ventilation products.

"It is not easy for mid-sized and small companies to compete with large Chinese firms on product numbers or exhibition scale," an industry official said. "A realistic strategy for expanding overseas is to take specialized products that have proven their market viability at home, adapt them to local living environments and secure retail distribution partners."