the BIG interview
The booming appliance market
Paul Hide was appointed chief executive of the Association of Manufacturers of Domestic Appliances (Amdea) in December 2019. Aſter the completion of a two-year transformation plan, he told Simon King how the association has evolved under his tenure
P
aul Hide started work in the technology industry in 1990, when he joined Sony
and he spent 25 years on the manufacturer/ producer side of the industry, before spending six years as director of marketing & membership at techUK. He said: “We’ve come a long way in the last
two years; I was attracted to Amdea by the opportunity to create something new and fresh. “The broard wanted somebody to come in and sort it out really and bring some fresh thinking and a new broom. We’ve changed people, we’ve changed processes, but what had to stay was the core membership, which is highly valuable, and we’ve also gained new members. “We are out on the other side of that
transformation now so now it’s about optimising what we do and the value we give those that we work with.” Mr Hide said that from an Amdea perspective,
it’s a completely new organisation. “I’m now the longest serving member of the
team,” he said, “and we’ve got a new core team of five people. We’re much more professional in how we communicate with members and stakeholders. “The other thing that we started to do, that
we did very little of before, is talking to the purchaser, the household or the consumer, with messaging from things we were doing before like appliance registration to now campaigning across things like energy labelling, sustainability and how to buy the right appliance.” Under Mr Hide’s tenure, Amdea is bringing
an extra dimension to the work it does, which is promoting the industry outside of its core stakeholder group. He said: “Part of what we want to spend a lot more doing forward is talking about a responsible, sustainable industry and the last couple of years as only raised the perceived
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buying sustainably, buying the most appropriate appliances from an environmental perspective, and also once they’ve bought those appliances, help in using them. “People rarely use the eco settings on laundry
awareness and importance of appliances, because we’ve all spent more time at home, day and night, and made use of appliances. “Challenges aside, it’s been a fantastic two
years trading, and most of our members have had their strongest ever two years, and not just in the UK. Clearly many sectors have really struggled in the last two years, but we’ve seen record levels of demand for appliances large and small.”
Last year was another UK record year for shipments into the market. The pandemic enforced lifestyle changes and, thankfully, for this sector, consumers continued to shop for their replacement products. Mr Hide said: “Historically, people buying appliances have tended to buy on features and performance within a given budget. “Until recently things like sustainability considerations, environmental factors, running costs have not been zero, but have been lower down the list of considerations, versus performance and features or capability of the machine. “We’re seeing now that an important part of the purchase consideration is how much it costs to run a machine, what’s its energy requirements, what’s its water requirements – these elements are starting to move up the agenda.” Mr Hide said that, moving forward, Amdea will help people make informed choices on
March/April 2022
products or dishwashing; people tend to go for the cycles that are shortest in time rather than those that are lowest in energy consumption and water,” he said. “The energy labelling ratings are actually based on eco settings. We’re still not seeing people using the appliances, at their most
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