Brand vs Private Label Central Vacuum Systems

What central vacuum brand should I purchase?

If you have been shopping for central vacuum systems, you know their are a variety of choices.  One question you may have is, "What brand should I purchase?" The internet is a great source of information and sometimes it is a great source of misinformation.  We thought it was a good idea to have a rational discussion about brands and private labels. So, we'll start with a little information about the major brand name central vacuum systems. 

• In the United States and Canada there are several central vacuum manufacturers who, in fact, manufacture most of the brands you see.  
• Many of their brands are private label.
• Electrolux manufactures Electrolux, Beam, Eureka, and some other private label units. 
• Lindsay Manufacturing, manufactures, right here in the U.S.A., Vacu-Maid, AstroVac, Valet, and Imperium, our own private label.
• Cana-Vac manufacture's their own brand in addition to RhinoVac.  I could go on, manufacturer by manufacturer, but I think you get the point.  

Why, you may ask, would a central vacuum manufacturer produce a private label? 
Central Vacuum companies sell their products via a variety of marketing channels and often to protect dealers they will offer different brands and products for different channels.   

Which is better for consumers, brand name products or private labeled products?
In most cases the only difference between private label products and brand name products is the name. You can find private label products in Macy’s, Sports Authority, Best Buy, Pets Mart, Target, all major grocery and drug store chains, as well as a myriad of other retail establishments. Private labels offer a huge advantage to consumers by allowing them to purchase products identical to the brand name items at reduced prices. Because these central vacuum units are manufactured by the major companies, they carry excellent warranties backed up by the brand name manufacturer.

We began selling central vacuum and intercom systems on the Internet in 1989. At that time many central vacuum manufacturers were concerned about customers installing central vacuum systems. Manufacturers wondered if homeowners would be able to  install a vacuum system  and they were protective of their installing dealers around the country. One manufacturer in particular, Lindsay Manufacturing, Inc., saw the future of the Internet and the do-it-yourself market. They wanted to embrace the future without encroaching on installing dealers. They offered us a partnership in which they would manufacture central vacuum power units for us under a private label name. Having installed Lindsay’s VacuMaid brand for years, we knew the exceptional high quality of their power units. Central Vacuum chose the beautiful ruby color and the name “Imperium”, and now you know the rest of the story. The Imperium brand is a private label manufactured by Lindsay Manufacturing. This partnership allows us to market a product to consumers at a reduced price while providing customers the quality from a name brand. As our Imperium brand has grown we have added our Imperium Emerald Green bagged power units, Imperium inverted filter units, and the first ever Imperium PINK central vacuum power unit to benefit cancer research.   Our Imperium attachment kits are manufactured by Cen-Tec Systems, Inc. Cen-Tec is one of the largest manufacturer of central vacuum accessories in the world.

We thought long and hard about our private label and wanted to make sure that customers would be offered nothing less than what we would expect for ourselves. Most of the employees at Central Vacuum Stores own Imperium units, attachments, and accessories. Whenever you are buying a central vacuum power unit, be sure to check for customer ratings and reviews...Customers give our Imperium central vacuum systems five stars again and again.

Aside from a reduced price, our Imperium private label guarantees customers brand name quality with a longer warranty and excellent customer service.

To learn more about private labels visit:

• From Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_label
• From Private Label magazine - http://www.privatelabelmag.com/
• From Nielsen - http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/press-room/2008/nearly_three-quarters.html