By Claire Reilly

Breville is celebrating a win in New Zealand with the brand announcing that it has taken out the top position in the small appliance category, according to GfK data for 2011.

According to the GfK figures, Breville gained a 25.3 per cent value share of the kitchen small appliance category for the year ended December 2011. Breville attributes the domination to its “new global food thinking strategy which was set in motion three years ago,” involving a stronger focus on kitchen appliances.

This new strategy appears to be working, with Breville increasing its average sell price in New Zealand by 13 per cent across the total kitchen category. The stand outs in individual categories were year-on-year sales value increases of 35.7 per cent for food processors, 294.3 per cent for kitchen machines and a 45.6 per cent jump in sales value for the hot beverage (coffee) category.

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“Our local managing director, Brett O Neill, and his team have for a long time been the leading suppliers in the NZ small appliance industry and this is a fantastic result for their efforts,” said Jack Lord, Breville’s acting CEO.

“Our global marketing and product development teams have successfully launched a number of category redefining products over the last 18 months and it is great to see the strong consumer acceptance for these products and the growth these have generated for our international businesses. 

“We focused our resources and expertise on gaining an even deeper understanding of the challenges people faced in preparing food and beverages and then set about developing the best kitchen tools that would help people do things more impressively or easily than they thought.

“Even in a relatively depressed Australian market the Breville brand has performed well as a result of new product innovation adding value into a number of categories and growing average sales prices.

“I appreciate it is difficult for retailers in the current Australian deflationary environment,” added Lord. “However, there are still great opportunities to sell up to the best products in a category, particularly when the products have a unique point of difference.”

This article has been updated to show that Breville received a 25.3 per cent value share in kitchen small appliances, not the overall small appliance category.