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<strong>Ireland</strong><br />
The only electrical business title for all <strong>Ireland</strong>’s electrical retailers<br />
April 2015<br />
Analysis: We talk to Whirlpool<br />
chief executive Jeff Fettig about<br />
his vision for the future Pages 6-7<br />
Analysis: Wearable tech Page 8<br />
Home Laundry Pages 18-20<br />
Accessories Pages 23-24<br />
Connected audio Pages 26-27<br />
www.ERT<strong>Ireland</strong>.ie<br />
‘No major changes’ as Whirlpool integrates Indesit<br />
›› ‘The whole strategy for us is to protect and grow the individual brands...’<br />
n By Simon King<br />
WHIRLPOOL <strong>Ireland</strong> claims it is<br />
“business as usual” while it integrates<br />
with the Indesit Company<br />
following last year’s $1 billion<br />
(€911.5 million) acquisition of<br />
the owner of the Hotpoint and<br />
Indesit brands.<br />
Fergus Johnston (pictured), managing<br />
director of Whirlpool <strong>Ireland</strong>,<br />
told ERT <strong>Ireland</strong>: “The two companies<br />
– Whirlpool <strong>Ireland</strong> and Indesit<br />
Company – are performing very<br />
strongly in the marketplace and have<br />
for the past three years.<br />
“Whirlpool has been growing<br />
for the past three years and in the<br />
past 12-24 months Indesit has been<br />
regaining market share.”<br />
Mr Johnston pointed out that the<br />
major domestic appliances market<br />
grew in 2014 and the first couple<br />
of months of 2015 showed positive<br />
signs, with single-digit growth in freestanding<br />
and double-digit in built-in.<br />
Mr Johnston said: “Whirlpool is<br />
outperforming the market place.<br />
Indesit, for the first two months of<br />
the year, has been too.<br />
“It’s business as usual until the end<br />
of 2015. We are in the early days of<br />
integration and we have not finalised a<br />
strategy for the brands, but my guess is<br />
that nothing major will change.<br />
“The whole strategy for us is to protect<br />
and grow the individual brands<br />
of Whirlpool, Hotpoint and Indesit,<br />
but there is no strategy decided.”<br />
ERT <strong>Ireland</strong> understands that<br />
Hotpoint will be a core brand for<br />
Whirlpool <strong>Ireland</strong>, with Whirlpool a<br />
‘core plus’ brand, offering a step-up<br />
from Hotpoint, which will see the<br />
brand move into premium territory.<br />
Indesit will be the value brand of the<br />
newly-enlarged group.<br />
Mr Johnston said that the new<br />
company would be headquartered<br />
at Whirlpool <strong>Ireland</strong>’s premises on<br />
the Fonthill Industrial Estate, Fonthill<br />
Road, Dublin 22.<br />
He added: “I will be establishing<br />
my management team later in the<br />
process. I don’t think there will be job<br />
cuts – if anything I think we may look<br />
to recruit.”<br />
Esther Berrozpe Galindo, president<br />
of Whirlpool EMEA, added:<br />
“The Whirlpool and Indesit integration<br />
process will bring together two<br />
industry leaders with complementary<br />
strengths.”<br />
Speaking at last month’s Leading<br />
Change conference in Barcelona,<br />
Spain, Ms Galindo said: “Our trade<br />
customers will realise a clear benefit<br />
from complementary market positions,<br />
product offerings and distribution<br />
channels throughout Europe.<br />
And consumers will enjoy new innovation<br />
and product choices. ”<br />
Electrical retailers bucking<br />
the sales trends with 6% rise<br />
ELECTRICAL retailers seemed to<br />
be bucking the trend with healthy<br />
growth figures of six per cent for<br />
January compared with December.<br />
Retail <strong>Ireland</strong> warned, however,<br />
that not all sectors did as well and<br />
that many retailers continued to be<br />
hampered by legacy costs, such as<br />
unsustainably high rents and excessive<br />
local authority commercial rates.<br />
Central Statistics Office figures for<br />
January showed modest growth in<br />
sales of 0.8 per cent overall, compared<br />
with last year (excluding the<br />
automotive and hospitality sectors),<br />
with volume rising by five per cent.<br />
However, when comparing<br />
January’s sales with December, there<br />
was a 0.3 per cent drop in total value<br />
and a 0.1 per cent drop in volume.<br />
Tom Burke (pictured), director of<br />
Retail <strong>Ireland</strong>, said that more needs<br />
to be done to help retailers grow and<br />
create jobs.<br />
Mr Burke said: “Given the busy<br />
trading period in the run-up to<br />
Christmas and the post-holiday sales,<br />
retailers sometimes experience lower<br />
sales in January, which accounts for<br />
the slight dip. What the figures highlight,<br />
however, are the differences<br />
across sectors of the industry.<br />
“Sales of furniture, lighting and<br />
homewares soared, with a 14 per<br />
cent jump in year-on-year values.<br />
Electrical store sales were up by six<br />
per cent and department stores saw<br />
growth of three per cent. “<br />
Mr Burke added: “Retailers continue<br />
to face challenges despite<br />
improvements in the economy and<br />
consumer confidence. We must<br />
address the issues of unsustainably<br />
high rents and disproportionate local<br />
authority commercial rates if we are<br />
to achieve balanced regional growth.<br />
“More also needs to be done to<br />
make town and city centres better<br />
places to visit and shop.”<br />
Sales up but discounting is<br />
holding back revenues<br />
RETAIL Excellence <strong>Ireland</strong> (REI)<br />
has warned that price discounting<br />
is driving sales volumes<br />
across the State.<br />
Seán Murphy (pictured), REI’s deputy<br />
chief executive, said: “While the<br />
volume is up significantly year on<br />
year, the fact that value is not tracking<br />
volume is disappointing and<br />
shows once again that many parts of<br />
the country are still struggling.<br />
“Annualised growth of retail sales<br />
volume, excluding motor trades, was<br />
4.8 per cent, while the annualised<br />
value only increased by 0.9 per cent.<br />
This illustrates the impact of the<br />
aggressive discounting consumers<br />
availed themselves of both pre- and<br />
post-Christmas.<br />
“This discounting continued into<br />
January. It also shows why retailers<br />
are extremely nervous about any talk<br />
of wage increases in the absence<br />
of a broad-based recovery in the<br />
domestic economy.”<br />
Mr Murphy continued: “These figures<br />
show that we cannot afford<br />
to be complacent. The domestic<br />
economy is slowly recuperating but<br />
not at the rates and levels that we<br />
would all like. A thriving Dublin night<br />
economy does not reflect the full<br />
national picture, nor should it be<br />
used to justify hikes in the nine<br />
per cent VAT rate on the hospitality<br />
industry.<br />
“Hospitality also supports retail<br />
and leisure businesses across the<br />
country. This must be retained to<br />
maintain these businesses and the<br />
jobs they generate.”<br />
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