d62 INTERVIEW / MIELE When the user
approaches the oven, the lighting switches on and the end-of-cycle ringtone is deactivated. The user can choose the scenarios to which the machine responds via an application called MotionReact, which is also available in other Miele built-in appliances. Pictured is an oven in the ContourLine design
oven last year. What has been the response to that product in the run-up to its full launch to market? And how difficult is it to convey to potential customers the idea behind what is ultimately an entirely new way of cooking?
Dr Miele: Firstly, it is at a completely different price point, and it is a completely new type of technology. There are things you can do with a Dialog oven that you cannot do with any other appliance. Key to this is the ‘education’ of the consumer, although we don’t call it education as such since it is not at all like being at school! What we do in Germany is that we sell the Dialog oven with a package that involves a chef coming to your home and cooking for up to six people,
MAR 2015
JUN 2019
giving the user a chance to see for themselves how it can be utilised. Of course, there is also a cookbook, but because this is so new and revolutionary, we thought it made sense to have a little more personal interaction, to explain how the product works and to make sure the consumer knows what they’re buying and how to get the best out of it.
It’s a bit like going from a normal car to a Formula 1 car – you wouldn’t be expecting to drive the F1 car the same way as a normal car, so there has to be some training first, and that’s a little bit how we see the Dialog oven.
We put it out into the German market first, and now it’s in Switzerland, Austria and Italy, and we sell it only through selected
designer kitchen & bathroom
designerkbmag.co.uk
dealers who know how to present it and understand what’s behind the technology. As for sales so far, we understand it is a very high price point, but we are very happy with the progress that has been made so far.
The role of the retailer in conveying this is very important, but then it is important for any product. Everyone knows how a dishwasher works so that kind of product is straightforward, but there is work to do when it comes to products like steam ovens – good retailers have vegetables stored away somewhere so they can demonstrate the product and show just how much difference it can make.
This principle is even more true of the Dialog oven. To explain the oven and then
invite the customer for dinner to try it for themselves is perhaps the best way of conveying its capabilities.
DESIGNER: Given the entirely different nature of the technology used within the Dialog oven, what was the starting point for developing this?
Dr Miele: The technology initially comes from a start-up business in Israel which was coming at things from a very different direction. Their business was focused on medical technology and the need to maintain a very even and steady temperature of materials using infra-red technology. We met them about seven years ago and examined whether their idea was possible for a food-related application
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100
