Special report: BSH Group 2012 press conference


home appliance manufacturer, and its revenue increased by 18.4%. BSH’s business also expanded in the rest of the Asian region, especially in India, Malaysia and Singapore, as well as in Australia and Oceania.


Small appliances The steady growth of the small appliances market in Europe continued in 2011 and it helped to increase the revenue of BSH’s small home appliances business by 7.6%. “Our goals for the future are just as ambitious: By 2015, we want to significantly expand our consumer products segment in Europe. Especially coffee, which is now considered a lifestyle item, is one of our largest growth generators in this area. Ever since coffee has become a trend product, the demand for our fully automatic coffee machines and the Tassimo multi-beverage appliance has risen by about 30% every year,” commented Dr Gutberlet. In 2011, the company registered above- average growth in the floorcare category. This positive development was due in part to the success of its bagless vacuum cleaners, particularly the Bosch Roxx’x model. In 2011, the vacuum cleaner production plant in Bad Neustadt, produced more than two million appliances for the first time. That equates to an increase of almost 10% in comparison with 2010.


Challenges ahead Dr Gutberlet has also outlined the challenges for the company in 2012. Of key importance are persistent currency risks. “In 2011, the international debt crisis caused major distortions on the financial markets. The insecurity of market players resulted in


an extraordinarily high volatility. We can assume that this trend will continue throughout the year 2012. We strategically counter these risks with currency hedging.” The second principal challenge will be raising cost of raw material which BSH expect to remain at last year’s level in 2012. With regard to the world economy, the company expects only a moderate rise in GDP of 2.5%. “First and foremost, this will have a negative impact on global trade, which is likely to experience very low growth rates. We consider the highest individual risk to be the worsening debt crisis in Europe. We predict an average US dollar exchange rate of US$1.30 to the Euro. Against this background, we assume that the global market for white goods will only experience limited growth. This means the Western European market is likely to stagnate at best, with the exception of Germany, where we expect to observe moderate growth in the market.”


The UK market


“The UK is not an easy market for the BSH Group. A large proportion of the market purchases appliances purely on price. In the free-standing category it is the most price sensitive market for us. In this sense the market is similar to the US one,” said Dr Kurt-Ludwig Gutberlet to the British press at the briefing after the conference. “The UK is the number four market for BSH Group in Europe, with Neff enjoying particularly strong position in the UK. In the UK it has a number one position in the built-in market while in Germany it’s only number three.


Independent channel is a key distribution channel for BSH in the UK as


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CIH is a biggest business partner of BSH in Britain and in the whole European market. “Moreover the eco message is not widely accepted and understood in Britain. In Europe super-efficient appliances constitute 28% of BSH’s sales, in Germany the figure is close to 50%, in the UK it is less than 10%. In the cooling category – in Europe super efficient appliances constitute 35% of BSH’s sales, but in Germany 53%; in dishwashing in Europe 46%, in Germany 61%. The German market demand for these appliances is shaped by the high cost of energy and the general public awareness of environmental issues. “According to our research, 80% of customers intending to buy domestic appliances research information online before going to the store, so often the customer is better informed about the product than the retail staff. However retailers still have an important role to play explaining to the customer various products benefits. It’s up to retailers to convince them why it’s worth spending extra £30 to buy a silent dishwasher instead of a noisy one.” ■


“80% of customers


intending to buy domestic appliances research


information online before going to the store”


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