With largest cooking display to date.
Bing Lee held the official opening for its new Marsden Park store in Sydney’s north-west over the Australia Day long weekend. The store measures approximately 1100 square metres, employs 8 staff and is part of the repurposed Masters site.
In an exclusive interview, Bing Lee head of business development and retail sales, Peter Harris (pictured) told Appliance Retailer, “We have been looking for a location for a while that we could showcase a premium lift for Bing Lee and our direction in the market as we want to offer a real point of difference to the generalist retailer.
“The Marsden Park area is a real growth corridor in Sydney and is home to other big retailers including Ikea and Costco. We thought it was the perfect opportunity to showcase where we are going as a brand because we know consumers want ease when they are shopping and prefer to only visit one store for all their needs.
“In the past, cooking was always a bit of an after-thought for Bing Lee. It would sit up against the wall down the back of the store but now we are moving cooking into the front and centre of our offering. We wanted to make the space more open, which can be seen in our glass splashbacks in the cooking displays, to show our entire offering from when you first walk into the store.
“After opening our Miele specialist store in Drummoyne, we worked with the Miele team to create a unique store-in-store concept. For us, it is the first Miele concept of its kind within the Bing Lee network. We are now also offering premium refrigeration, upright cookers and rangehoods from brands including Electrolux, Fisher & Paykel, Hitachi, LG, Samsung, Smeg and Falmec.
“We have brought in cooking experts. In the past, Bing Lee have had great staff but they have been across every part of the business but for this store, we have staff who are specialists in cooking and whitegoods. We want to have people in our business who can sell the benefits that our premium brands offer. We feel we have a good, better, best story within cooking and we want to ensure our range remains meaningful to our customers.
“The store offers the largest range of sinks and taps within the Bing Lee network, with Franke, Zip and Blanco product. We are now also showing a full suite of products from Asko, including their built in washer and dryer, as well as a larger and more lifestyle feel Vintec display.
“The TV displays and seasonal products including air conditioning and fans have been moved to the back of the store. This has allowed coffee machines and small appliances to move to the front as growth categories and products that have become a real statement piece in the kitchen.
“We have studied local and global competitors for ideas on how to highlight particular products, such as soundbars. We are now showing customers the benefits of purchasing a soundbar with their television. We want them to touch, feel and experience the soundbars and we have seen uplift in conversion with this new display. We will roll this concept out into more Bing Lee stores.
“I would like to thank all of our suppliers for their hard work in putting together their displays at such short notice leading up to Christmas. The opportunity arose and we jumped on it. I am looking forward to Marsden Park being another successful store for Bing Lee.”