Miele recently opened its experiential showroom in Cavendish Place, Central London. The Miele Gallery London offers visitors a hands-on experience of a range of working cooking, cleaning and laundry appliances. Visitors can also test a washing machine programme on a favourite garment, and even put a Miele vacuum cleaner through its paces to test its performance.
Visitors to the London Gallery can benefit from individual consultations and demonstration sessions as well as a range of practical cookery ‘Masterclasses’, including Italian cooking and a Men’s Cook School, hosted by Miele’s team of product advisors and home economists.
Dr Markus Miele, managing director and co-owner of Miele, explained to IER the rationale behind opening the Miele Gallery in London. “We monitor customers’ enquiries for our products and many of them come from the South East. Abingdon is 1.5-2 hours away from London and for some people it is too far to come to experience Miele appliances. Therefore we had to have a showroom in London to give them an opportunity to feel, touch and test our appliances.”
Dr Reinhard Zinkann, managing director and co-proprietor of Miele, expanded on this by saying: “It is important for a brand like ours to be close to the customers because our dealers cannot show the broad variety of our products. Moreover, the appliances in the showroom are all working so their functions can be easily demonstrated. We intend to attract three types of customers: those just passing by and those interested in getting a new product, either because they plan a replacement or a kitchen refurbishment. We also wish to give pleasure to people who already own a Miele appliance by offering them cookery classes, live demonstrations and events – so they can learn more about how to use our products.”
“It is important to remember that this is a partnership between Miele and our local retail partners, because they can send their customers here. Having experienced our products, the customer then goes back to the retailer to buy the product,” stressed Simon Grantham, chief executive of Miele UK.
