Kobold Review and Profile

Kobold is the floor-care and home-cleaning brand of Vorwerk, a German family-owned direct-selling company founded in 1883. It is not a separate MLM company, but one of Vorwerk's two principal consumer brands alongside Thermomix. Vorwerk currently operates in about 60 countries through company-owned sales organizations and independent distribution partners.

Vorwerk introduced the first Kobold handheld vacuum cleaner in 1929 and adopted direct selling in 1930 because personal demonstrations were more effective than conventional retail sales at explaining the appliance. Kobold products have since been sold through customer advisors who demonstrate the equipment in consumers' homes, supplemented in some markets by online stores and physical retail locations. The advisor-based structure is direct selling, but it is generally centered on personal product demonstrations and sales rather than the large multilevel recruiting organizations associated with conventional MLM companies.

The current Kobold range includes the VK7 modular cordless vacuum and vacuum-mop system, the VR7 robot vacuum, the VM7 handheld vacuum and attachments for carpets, hard floors, upholstery, mattresses, windows and detailed cleaning. Vorwerk remains one of the world's largest direct sellers of premium household appliances.