COMMENT AND OPINION | Malcolm Scott


MALCOLM SCOTT


OPINION Almost every


product on display in any kitchen studio will have a manufacturer website with a dealer locator. Check you’re getting a share of this valuable internet traffi c


When I ask Google about Hotpoint integrated laundry, the Hotpoint website comes up quite quickly. Going onto that website there is a ‘Where to Buy button’, which lists six leading internet sites and gives you the option to ‘click here for your nearest store’. When I input my home postcode, several established local businesses appeared on a pop-up, including fi ve good kitchen studios and fi ve local independent electrical stores. If you have Hotpoint on display, check and make sure that your business is listed as a displaying outlet. Doing the same search for Belling integrated laundry, to


I am pleased see that the Belling site does not


automatically recommend a batch of web retailers, but rather lists 10 local independent electrical stores. If you are a kitchen studio with Belling on display, get in touch with Belling or your regional sales manager and get your name on the Belling website – all exposure of this nature can only be good for your business.


The AEG website listed just one kitchen studio in my area alongside Howdens, Wickes, Magnet, Howarth Timber, Plumbase and one very good independent electrical store – so AEG displaying kitchen studios need


to ‘make some


noise’ and try to get their details included on the AEG website.


Selecting a standard Bosch hob on the Bosch website produced a dealer list that is quite extensive.


For my home postcode, the list includes two kitchen studios, four independent electrical stores, Benchmarx, Wren, John Lewis and Currys. Interestingly, on the Bosch


Who’s who in appliances?


Over recent years, the bigger appliance manufacturers have been quietly buying up smaller competitors and licences


to


reuse historic brand names, so it has become quite diffi cult to work out who is making what. Turkish manufacturer Vestel has, for example, bought the Danish manufacturer Vestfrost a few years ago and has the licence for the Sharp and Servis brands. Arçelik, makers


18


of Beko, also has the licences for Grundig and Blomberg and owns the Leisure Group. Chinese


manufacturer Haier


has over the past few years been very active, buying GE Appliances, Hoover Candy Group and Fisher and Paykel, while its closest competitor, Hisense of China, bought Gorenje late last year and has the licence for the Sanyo brand. Cevital, the Algerian group, bought De Dietrich


in 2014, while Middleby Corporation, the USA conglomerate that owns Viking, bought Aga Rangemaster in July 2015. Amica, the Polish market leader, bought CDA at the end of 2015. During 2014, Whirlpool group bought the Hotpoint group and the Hotpoint UK brand. Vestel, Hisense and Haier are


also major OEM suppliers and make huge numbers of appliances for private-label operators and retailers


The WTA industry conference speaker and KBSA corporate chair on why he believes it’s so important to make sure your retail outlet appears on manufacturers’ online store locators


Does the web work for you? T


he worldwide web is a great tool, a very effective medium for promoting any consumer-facing business. Are you doing the simple things that can help get your business noticed? For example, how often does your showroom come up when a consumer is getting information from one of your suppliers?


dealer locator, when selected from a page showing a HomeConnect hob, you get a different list, with only two listings for my home postcode within 40 miles – so this is obviously a very clever locator that separated out partner retailers. Both of the listings were independent electrical retailers – so Bosch kitchen studio outlets, get yourselves registered. This must be a good opportunity to get more traffi c to your own website. The Franke sinks website store locator is excellent – listing a wide range of kitchen studio outlets alongside a very small number of builders merchants. The Whirlpool website only lists independent electrical stores in my area, so those kitchens studios with Whirlpool on display need to check if they appear by searching the dealer locator on the Whirlpool website from their own postcode. If you are a kitchen studio who displays Whirlpool, make sure you get a listing. The Neff ‘Find Your Local Neff Retailer’ is very good, listing a wide selection of kitchen studios alongside a smaller number of independent electricals and a small number of multiple outlets like Wickes and Wren. The Blanco dealer locator takes consumers to a wide variety of kitchen studio dealers and John Lewis, while Symphony directs consumers to a good list of kitchen studios and a small number of builders merchants. Omega’s ‘Find a Retailer’ locator selects the three nearest


retailers. For my postcode, this was two kitchen specialists and one builders merchant. Almost every product on display in any kitchen studio will have a manufacturer website with a dealer locator. Some of these manufacturer sites have huge amounts of consumer traffi c. Use your local postcode to check that your business is getting a share of this valuable internet traffi c. If not, contact the website or the manufacturer and ask to be listed. This will be free of charge and might help to get more consumers to visit your showroom.


with their own brand. These big manufacturer groups


all now own production facilities in several different countries. Haier has factories in 12 countries – Whirlpool Group in 13 countries. BSH Group have factories throughout Europe, Latin America and Asia. Electrolux has factories in 13 countries. There


is still a place for the


smaller manufacturers like Smeg and Bertazzoni, but increasingly that place is in ‘niche’ high-end products or regionally customised products like range cookers.


kbbr kbbreview · December 2019


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