ASKO: STUART WILSON THE ERT INTERVIEW


June 2022 ertonline.co.uk


SW: We are fully focussed on forging a strong retail base, talking to our retail partners and potential partners and using this facility to reintroduce the brand and get them excited about our products again. But we are not chasing masses of distribution points because we would rather have quality advocates for the brand in key parts of the country. Following on from that, we’re also looking to set up cooking demonstrations and events, not only for retailers but for their customers as well. We’ll use our facility here and other partners’ showrooms and we will fully support them with setting up and running these events.


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For example, our stand at the EuroCucina show [pictured above and below] this year was a real statement! We used a Danish architecture company called Norm to design the stand and they have a real passion for recreating areas where people could actually live – a real living space with functional products seamlessly integrated to make people’s lives easier.


So even if you’ve got a small studio apartment, it


doesn’t mean that it can’t be well designed and practical, yet with enough scope for you to express yourself.


Q: How will you get your retail partners involved in ASKO’s evolvement in the coming months and years?


Having said that, we are very conscious that these retailers are experts in appliances – they know the business very well and I think it would be presumptuous of us to tell them too much about how to market new appliances! We can offer our suggestions and our support, but we need their advice in return. We see the launch of ASKO as a true partnership model.


The whole retail service is so important for us at this stage, not necessarily in terms of actual repairs but the in-store explanation, assisting customers with their purchase and the after-sales service. It’s what we call ‘soft service’. Dealers need to have an expert understanding of how our products work so they can help their customers to get the best out of them, and we will always be on-hand to assist with that.


Q: And what are the company’s plans going forward; how will ASKO grow in the UK? Will any more product lines be introduced in the UK? SW: I haven’t got a quick answer to that! We are constantly looking at best practice within the industry, and at the moment we are focusing quite a lot on wine coolers. I don’t think the market has quite seen the sophistication in wine storage that we are producing right now; this is something we’ll be developing for sure.


But we’ve got a very talented R&D team and we will certainly be looking at food storage as a design concept; refrigeration equipment has to incorporate a lot of different technologies but we will look to offer these in an attractive and desirable overall package. All we want to do is position ASKO as a credible brand at the premium end and we want expert dealers to recognise the brand as the go-to design solution for their customers. So not only in the retail space, but also in terms of architecture and design excellence in the home, we want ASKO to have a strong voice and position there.


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