After flying under the radar and keeping a low profile for several years — a position it was happy to occupy while building up its credentials — Adelaide-based suppliers ProAppliances is now ready to make a splash in the lead-up to the big Christmas rush.
ProAppliances is the masterbrand used by an importer named Aquaport for its benchtop and cooking appliance models. Based in Flinders Park, a suburb of northwest Adelaide, Aquaport has previously been known for its self-branded seasonal products, dehumidifiers and water filters. Each type of model in the ProAppliance range has its own sub-brand, which is formed by taking the category name and adding ‘Pro’ to the end: JuicePro, VacPro and BlendPro, for example.
Mat Kiley is the national sales manager for ProAppliances. He said with Christmas coming up, the fitness craze spreading nationwide and lots of interest in cooking being generated by TV programming, the time was right to ramp up the company’s marketing.
“There is a growing trend with customers who are concerned with their health and wellbeing: they are increasingly more conscious with the quality of foods they consume and the environment they live in,” Kiley said.
“TV Shows like The Block are inspiring DIY home improvement, while lifestyle programs like My Kitchen Rules and Masterchef Australia are inspiring creative cooks who want to replicate a restaurant quality experience for family and guests.
“We have experienced huge growth in sales of lifestyle improvement products. Customers are increasingly becoming time poor, so products that save time and assist to keep them healthy are becoming more popular.”
Kiley explained that ProAppliances isn’t a broad, everyday brand, like Breville and Sunbeam. It doesn’t market toasters or kettles or play in the high volume categories. Its strategy is to identify growth categories, ones still retaining high ASPs and margins, and to compete on feature sets and functionality.
The range includes some very funky new appliances, the stand-out of which is the admittedly niche PastaPro paster maker (RRP $329). There’s also the BlendPro dry mixing jug for RRP $179, a whole food blender for RRP $599 and the AirFyerPro for RRP $299.
The most comprehensive range in ProAppliances’ collection is in juicing. The Christmas range will have four JuicePro cold press juicers, ranging in RRP from $249 to $449.
To help retailers with sell-through, ProAppliances has created on-shelf video displays to act as digital sales staff, as Kiley explained.
“All our appliances are packaged in high quality retail-friendly boxes, highly suitable for in-store display. We have produces punchy and informative video productions for each product we are bringing to the marketplace. These videos are utilised as in-store A4 display installations, which act as silent salesmen to assist customer education and product selection.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGWMcWyjAcE
Kiley said ProAppliances’ goal was to grow the pie and to help more value into the various categories it operates in. He doesn’t want ProAppliances to be compared to the ‘cheap and cheerful’ and he stresses that these are market-leading products.
“Our premium price-pointed products allow the opportunity to trade customers up to more premium and unique product,” he said. “We offer healthy, segment leading quality products with low return rates and back it up with a customer hotline and after-sales care if ever required.”
This author is on Twitter: @Patrickavenell