cooling: comment Cooling category showcase


The dark clouds of COVID-19, and our enforced increased stay at home requirements, have resulted in exceptional sales of cooling appliances over the past 12 months, says Paul Hide, chief executive of the Association of Manufacturers of Domestic Appliances (AMDEA)


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MDEA’s sell-in tracking reports sales of free-standing fridge/freezers in 2020


up more than 20% year-on-year, an upward trend that continued into Q1 of 2021. Householders, in addition to replacing appliances at end of life, have been purchasing additional cooling products to increase home food storage capacity, growing the overall installed base of cooling appliances. Consumers are open to persuasion of the benefits of new technology and features when considering a new cooling appliance. The new Energy Labelling requirements, that came into effect on March 1, provide an opportunity to demonstrate the huge steps forward in appliance energy efficiency, and ambient operating noise, providing additional opportunities to close the sale as the reason for changes are not automatically clear to purchasers. The requirement to display these new UK flagged labels is now a legal requirement, so it is important that your stores and online pages are displaying the new labels. AMDEA research shows that there are close


to 10 million cooling and washing appliances in UK homes that are over 10 years old. That is a large percentage of the estimated 83 million fridges and washing machines in the UK. In that time, we estimate that average energy consumption of a fridge freezer has dropped by 40%, so there are significant running cost savings to be made when upgrading, which will offset, in part, the cost of a new appliance. In addition, householders are increasingly


aware of the environmental impact of appliances. Our research shows that 37% have a heightened consideration of green issues when purchasing a new appliance and a similar (36%) placed equal importance on sustainability. Today, 90% of fridges and freezers sold


are rated A+ or higher and 80% of washing machines already perform to A++ or A+++


26 | www.ierdaily.co.uk


standard. Most cooling and wet appliances are clustered tightly in the top bands, while the remaining ratings from B to G are nearly empty. Clearly, the labelling scale no longer provides a clear and comparable means for product differentiation. Fridges and freezers have been addressed in


this revision. To improve clarity for customers the calculation methods have changed and the rescaled ratings deliberately leave space at the top of the scale for innovation and improved performance. Fridges will largely move from A ratings to


D/F. The pictograms on the labels are designed to be self-explanatory and largely remain the same. Some testing methods and the way the values are reported have been revised to reflect contemporary life and growing consumer interest in protecting the environment. All appliance labels will now feature a noise rating from A to D. Fridge freezer labels feature new


measurement methods for energy consumption and net volume that consider type of model, volume of compartments, plus additional new built-in technologies. All the new labels also display a QR code in


the top right-hand corner which will allow easy access to a database holding further product details. A fridge that was rated as A++ on February 28, was rated F on March 1 and is identical in terms of total energy consumption and running costs. These changes are likely to cause consumer confusion unless explained very clearly and could lead to a consumer perception that appliances are becoming less efficient. This could result in a disincentive for consumers to upgrade their appliances so it is extremely important that we communicate these changes and the reasons behind them very clearly to customers.


To prepare for the transition, a second new label is already in being included in shipped appliances. In Great Britain, these new labels will feature a Union Jack, while in Northern Ireland the EU flag will be retained. From March 1, new labels must be displayed both in-store and online. Any cooling stock that has not been rescaled or relabelled – effectively discontinued lines – must be sold out no later than December 1, 2021.


Key points to remember New labels must be displayed in store and online from March 1;


Although other major appliances such as


cookers, hoods and tumble dryers are not included in this revision and will continue to display the current rating information, in Great Britain they should display a label with the Union Jack – most major manufacturers are ready to supply these in self-print digital versions; and Any discontinued models that have not been


rescaled and do not have a new label, must be sold to the end user by December 1, 2021. Whilst these changes place yet more burdens on manufacturers and retailers in already challenging times, they are driven by superb appliance energy performance improvements and, therefore, offer an excellent opportunity to leverage the background to these changes as part of a compelling sales story that helps close sales. AMDEA has published a labelling toolkit


exclusively for the trade. It includes a fully comprehensive label gallery for all the appliances affected by the labelling changes and a three-minute training video. To obtain your copy, email: amdeapress@bfipr.co.uk.


May & June 2021


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