By Claire Reilly
As an Italian brand, Ilve has always emphasised its European heritage, its focus on quality, and its passion for good cooking. As the company gears up for another big year in the appliance space, Current.com.au sat down with Ilve’s marketing manager, Daniel Bertuccio, to talk about the brand’s new products and its strong heritage in the industry.
Current.com.au: So what can we expect from Ilve this year?
Daniel Bertuccio: We are definitely expanding our range. More of that will come to light in the coming months, but we are definitely extending our range and having a very big push on built-in appliances. That is pretty much our main focus for 2012 – to expand our built in range and make it much more extensive and prominent in that sector of the business.
C: How do you think Ilve is seen in terms of cooking appliances as a whole?
DB: We are definitely seen as the market leader in freestanding, which leads us obviously to come to the conclusion that we need to be known as more of a market leader in the built-in area. With our freestanding market, we know where we stand there and it’s a very good position. But we acknowledge that we need to be better in built-in and that’s what we’re trying to do.
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C: So what do you think sets Ilve apart?
DB: A lot of it is styling and a lot of it is mainly manufacturing. Everything is still made in Italy, not greater Europe or Eastern Europe as a lot of other brands will advertise. Our product is all 100 per cent made in Italy. And we hold that very close to our hearts and we promote that a lot. Everything is made by us, we don’t outsource anything on the cooking side of things. Everything is made by Ilve in Italy, and it’s very rare that you get that in a brand these days.
C: Does that inform the way you get your message across to retailers and consumers?
DB: Absolutely. Whenever retailers have been to our manufacturing plant and they see it – it’s one thing to tell people, but when they see it they realise that it’s actually true. And it’s something we hope will never change about our company. Our products are all 75 per cent hand assembled, which is very rare in this day and age.
C: So in terms of specific products this year, what can retailers look forward to?
DB: A few things – we’re expanding our steam oven, our pizza oven, our pyrolytic oven, our combination microwave, and there are a lot of other things that feed off those products that we will release into the market in. So watch this space!