Connected, cordless and multifunctional exclusively roundup
A market which has routinely posted some of the fastest growing categories in the electrical retail industry, small domestic appliances took centre stage at the Exclusively Electrical trade show
T
he Business Design Centre in London played host to some of the biggest names in the small domestic
appliance industry for the Exclusively Electrical trade show on June 14 and 15. Running alongside sister show Exclusively Housewares for the second year, the show was aimed at retailers interested in moving into or expanding their small domestic and kitchen appliances (SDA/SKA) offerings. A buoyant market overall during the past
few years, SDAs continue to be driven heavily by micro- and macro-trends. GfK business group director Anthony Williams charted the market in more detail. “There are three megatrends in the market:
connected, cordless and multifunctional,” he explained. “This is very much where the consumer is heading right now. In the modern home, everyone pretty much has a smartphone, everyone uses apps, and they use it for a broad selection of things, from checking recipes, to deciding what furnishings they’re going to buy. “For cordless, more and more products
are coming without a plug, becoming rechargeable, and in a lot of cases, it’s consumers demanding lightweight products, which don’t have cables they’ll trip over.” He continued: “For multifunction, what
we’re seeing more and more across electricals is people wanting products to do more; they want more bang for their buck. As a result, it’s
incredibly important for them if they’re going to spend their money, and sometimes a lot of money, that they’re getting the most out of it.” There are a couple of areas where
opportunities exist, Anthony continued. One is ‘food planning’. “The average person spends 6.8 hours a week in the kitchen and food planning is becoming more important,” he said. “There is more usage of smartphones and tablets to find recipes. Although Wi-Fi fridges may not be mainstream, using devices to search for recipes, to make lists, to shop online even while you’re in the kitchen looking at the fridge, is. There has also been 85% growth in smart fridges, so even if the price point is quite high this still shows that over the next 10 years, this is going to become a much more prominent product in the European marketplace. “The second area is food preparation,” he continued. “Connected appliances only make up about 2% of electrical gadgets in the kitchen, but that’s growing at 250% year on year. So it’s small, but it’s very strong. There are products in the market now, which might be viewed as more of a gimmick than a consumer need, but these products do exist and even gimmicky technology tends to evolve over time into something more useful. There is a difference between smart and gimmicky. There are Bluetooth enabled frying pans in the market, but I’m not sure it’s really practical. But these things will develop and evolve, and follow consumer needs and usage.
“Controlling an espresso machine from your tablet or smartphone is fairly common now. It’s useful, in a way, to put a coffee on to brew from the other room, but it becomes much more useful when the appliance lets you know that you’re out of your favourite capsules and you can reorder online from your smartphone or tablet.”
GfK has undertaken research on the smart home more generally, with evidence that consumer awareness is growing. “Generally, ‘smart home’ is a term that resonates with consumers,” Anthony said. “91% of people believed they were ‘aware’ of smart home technology; 61% said they had ‘some knowledge’ of smart home technology, so there is a general understanding that is building. “The main barriers highlighted were cost and a lack of knowledge, but over a fifth said they saw no barriers, they were just waiting for the right technology for them.” With interest in the markets, Anthony suggests there is value in hunting out the affluent consumer. “Over the last few years, we’ve seen value go up across housewares, small domestic appliances and major domestic appliances,” he explains. “For example, look at induction technology. Induction hobs, five or six years ago, was worth about £26m and now is £53m. For the cookware market, you’ve now got over a third of the market in value made up with pans which are induction-ready. That’s a huge increase.”
GfK has also used its data to track what an
average affluent consumer might look like, based on growth categories. “Our figures suggest the consumer is willing
to pay more,” Anthony explains. “So what does the affluent consumer look like? We looked at all the areas that had seen more than 10% growth in the last few years, in volume, value and average price.” What is left is a picture of connected,
Premium small domestic appliances, from brands including KitchenAid, have seen strong performances in the market
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modern appliances, such as an average 42in flatscreen TV, Bluetooth soundbar and premium headphones. For home appliances, both 110cm range cookers and stainless steel built-in oven are very popular markets, alongside large capacity washing machines and American-style fridge freezers. Induction cookware has grown significantly, and in small electricals, liquidisers with a take away cup, espresso machines, kitchen machines and mixers, cordless and handstick cleaners have all shown significant growth.
July/August 2016
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