Ireland

Ireland
The only electrical business title for all Ireland’s electrical retailers
April 2015
Analysis: We talk to Whirlpool
chief executive Jeff Fettig about
his vision for the future Pages 6-7
Analysis: Wearable tech Page 8
Home Laundry Pages 18-20
Accessories Pages 23-24
Connected audio Pages 26-27
www.ERTIreland.ie
‘No major changes’ as Whirlpool integrates Indesit
›› ‘The whole strategy for us is to protect and grow the individual brands...’
n By Simon King
WHIRLPOOL Ireland claims it is
“business as usual” while it integrates
with the Indesit Company
following last year’s $1 billion
(€911.5 million) acquisition of
the owner of the Hotpoint and
Indesit brands.
Fergus Johnston (pictured), managing
director of Whirlpool Ireland,
told ERT Ireland: “The two companies
– Whirlpool Ireland and Indesit
Company – are performing very
strongly in the marketplace and have
for the past three years.
“Whirlpool has been growing
for the past three years and in the
past 12-24 months Indesit has been
regaining market share.”
Mr Johnston pointed out that the
major domestic appliances market
grew in 2014 and the first couple
of months of 2015 showed positive
signs, with single-digit growth in freestanding
and double-digit in built-in.
Mr Johnston said: “Whirlpool is
outperforming the market place.
Indesit, for the first two months of
the year, has been too.
“It’s business as usual until the end
of 2015. We are in the early days of
integration and we have not finalised a
strategy for the brands, but my guess is
that nothing major will change.
“The whole strategy for us is to protect
and grow the individual brands
of Whirlpool, Hotpoint and Indesit,
but there is no strategy decided.”
ERT Ireland understands that
Hotpoint will be a core brand for
Whirlpool Ireland, with Whirlpool a
‘core plus’ brand, offering a step-up
from Hotpoint, which will see the
brand move into premium territory.
Indesit will be the value brand of the
newly-enlarged group.
Mr Johnston said that the new
company would be headquartered
at Whirlpool Ireland’s premises on
the Fonthill Industrial Estate, Fonthill
Road, Dublin 22.
He added: “I will be establishing
my management team later in the
process. I don’t think there will be job
cuts – if anything I think we may look
to recruit.”
Esther Berrozpe Galindo, president
of Whirlpool EMEA, added:
“The Whirlpool and Indesit integration
process will bring together two
industry leaders with complementary
strengths.”
Speaking at last month’s Leading
Change conference in Barcelona,
Spain, Ms Galindo said: “Our trade
customers will realise a clear benefit
from complementary market positions,
product offerings and distribution
channels throughout Europe.
And consumers will enjoy new innovation
and product choices. ”
Electrical retailers bucking
the sales trends with 6% rise
ELECTRICAL retailers seemed to
be bucking the trend with healthy
growth figures of six per cent for
January compared with December.
Retail Ireland warned, however,
that not all sectors did as well and
that many retailers continued to be
hampered by legacy costs, such as
unsustainably high rents and excessive
local authority commercial rates.
Central Statistics Office figures for
January showed modest growth in
sales of 0.8 per cent overall, compared
with last year (excluding the
automotive and hospitality sectors),
with volume rising by five per cent.
However, when comparing
January’s sales with December, there
was a 0.3 per cent drop in total value
and a 0.1 per cent drop in volume.
Tom Burke (pictured), director of
Retail Ireland, said that more needs
to be done to help retailers grow and
create jobs.
Mr Burke said: “Given the busy
trading period in the run-up to
Christmas and the post-holiday sales,
retailers sometimes experience lower
sales in January, which accounts for
the slight dip. What the figures highlight,
however, are the differences
across sectors of the industry.
“Sales of furniture, lighting and
homewares soared, with a 14 per
cent jump in year-on-year values.
Electrical store sales were up by six
per cent and department stores saw
growth of three per cent. “
Mr Burke added: “Retailers continue
to face challenges despite
improvements in the economy and
consumer confidence. We must
address the issues of unsustainably
high rents and disproportionate local
authority commercial rates if we are
to achieve balanced regional growth.
“More also needs to be done to
make town and city centres better
places to visit and shop.”
Sales up but discounting is
holding back revenues
RETAIL Excellence Ireland (REI)
has warned that price discounting
is driving sales volumes
across the State.
Seán Murphy (pictured), REI’s deputy
chief executive, said: “While the
volume is up significantly year on
year, the fact that value is not tracking
volume is disappointing and
shows once again that many parts of
the country are still struggling.
“Annualised growth of retail sales
volume, excluding motor trades, was
4.8 per cent, while the annualised
value only increased by 0.9 per cent.
This illustrates the impact of the
aggressive discounting consumers
availed themselves of both pre- and
post-Christmas.
“This discounting continued into
January. It also shows why retailers
are extremely nervous about any talk
of wage increases in the absence
of a broad-based recovery in the
domestic economy.”
Mr Murphy continued: “These figures
show that we cannot afford
to be complacent. The domestic
economy is slowly recuperating but
not at the rates and levels that we
would all like. A thriving Dublin night
economy does not reflect the full
national picture, nor should it be
used to justify hikes in the nine
per cent VAT rate on the hospitality
industry.
“Hospitality also supports retail
and leisure businesses across the
country. This must be retained to
maintain these businesses and the
jobs they generate.”
OFC_ErtIR_April 2015.indd 1 31/03/2015 10:51