Haier Europe, the number one global major appliance brand, has held its annual conference, revealing its performance results and progress towards several ambitious business objectives.
The virtual 1 Vision smart conference attracted more than 500 attendees across two days and included presentations from several members of the senior management team, including chief executive of Europe, Yannick Fierling; UK & Ireland chief executive, David Meyerowitz; and Piergiorgio Bonfiglioli, marketing director IoT & smart solutions.
Mr Meyerowitz reported how growing consumer confidence had helped towards the group achieving number one positions in several product categories including; freestanding and built-in washing machines and washer dryers, freestanding and built-in tumble dryers, multi-door refrigeration and wine coolers.
This year’s results, reported by Mr Fierling, included:
* 12% European growth;
* 20% Haier brand growth
* 16.2% global market share, with every 1:4 fridges and 1:4 washing machines sold being from the Haier, Hoover or Candy brands.
Mr Fierling said this has been achieved through a focus on product experience, rather than just the models themselves and a clearly-defined, three-brand strategy.
With three million-plus registered users, 18+ connected product families and more than 12m smart products in the market, Haier has invested heavily in its industrial footprint in order to meet growing demand.
This will be delivered through three new factories opening this year and next in Romania, Turkey and China.
Mr Fierling said: “Our three-element strategy of accelerating value, increasing sales quantities and optimising brand value have supported brand expansion into new lines and categories.
“This, combined with increased manufcturing capacity, upweighting systems and our triple-brand and price quartile strategies enabled us to mark a challenging but exceptional year.”
