It has just been announced that Haier International has overtaken its rivals LG Electronics and Whirlpool as the world leader in refrigerator sales.

For the past seven years Haier has continually ranked around positions two and three in brand share rankings, but up until now they have never reined supreme.

Haier has consistently over the years been increasing its share in the brand market and at the end of 2008 the company had a 6.3 per cent market share, ahead of LG (6.1 per cent) and Whirlpool (6.0 per cent).

Haier Australia has also grown over the past year and product manager, Lan Nguyen, told Current.com.au today that “we have seen an increase in brand awareness, due to our first marketing campaign launch in early 2008 with the effective ‘It has to be Haier’ theme”.

Haier Australia has also experienced a 40 per cent increase in visits to its website.

“We are continuously trying to educate the consumers that Haier products are innovative and quality built,” Nguyen said.

Haier is the first Chinese consumer appliance brand to win worldwide sales recognition. It is also the fourth largest white goods manufacturer in the world with products sold in over 160 countries.