ASKO: MICHAEL HARDWICK THE ERT INTERVIEW
ASKO’s stand at KBB earlier this year 20
‘We are laying the foundations for what we want this brand to be’
Michael Hardwick, Business Director for ASKO UK, chats to Jack Cheeseman about growing the brand in the UK market and building its network of trusted premium retail partners.
L
ast year Michael Hardwick joined ASKO UK as Head of Sales; earlier this year he was then promoted to Business Director,
responsible
for further establishing the brand in the UK and building a network of brand ambassadors in premium kitchen showrooms and electrical retailers.
As well as this, the company has installed a new sales team with several key appointments so far this year. Talking exclusively to ERT Editor, Jack
Cheeseman, Mr Hardwick explains that moving from his previous roles at Fisher & Paykel, and before that Miele, ASKO is still in its infancy in the UK so drawing on his experience he
plans to build the company’s brand presence alongside his colleagues supporting the independent retail channel. “It’s been going really well so far and we
are growing,” he says. “We’re starting from a very small base, but we grew about 300-400 per cent in 2023 and we’ve got ambitions to replicate that growth again this year. “Our goal is to create a network of trusted
premium retail partners, but because of our newness in the UK, it is crucial that we are out on the road and having those face-to-face conversations with retailers. We are laying the foundations now for what we want this brand to be in the coming years.”
Q&A
Q: You exhibited at the KBB show back in March. How did you find your time there? Michael Hardwick: It was really successful for us; we took well over 100 leads across independent kitchen studios and electrical retailers. We experienced a real level of keenness from people and found that KBB visitors were really looking for something a bit different so it was great to start up those conversations. We’re trying to create a culture where we
can really listen to our partners’ needs and work out the best way of working together. The position that we already have and the partners that we are already working with reflect a brand that has been around in the UK for a lot longer than ASKO actually has! There’s definitely a desire for something a bit more unique right now, whether that’s the actual brand itself, the products that we sell, or our brand visibility and where our products are currently sold. So when it comes to things like trading terms, sales structures and display expectations, general feedback we had at KBB was that some suppliers can be a bit demanding and ask quite a lot of retailers. But we aim to work in a much more collaborative way and we’ve got the right team in place to be able to do that.
Q: It’s tough right now with consumer spending being squeezed, what does this mean for ASKO as a premium brand? MH: The specific end of the market where we are positioning ASKO is a little bit more protected compared to other parts of the market I would say. We can’t get away from
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