By Kymberly Martin
Increases in Eastern States.
Dwelling approvals in trend terms, rose 0.6% in August, and have risen for nine months, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. However, the increases were confined to New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland with decreases coming from the other states and the Northern Territory that included flat sales in the ACT.
For 2nds World with stores in NSW and Victoria, the latest figures are not surprising with total appliance sales for the retailer increasing 8.8% in the past year. Sales were “particularly strong in cooking,” managing director, Peter Hammerman, told Appliance Retailer.
“Our cooking business is quite significant with a lot of consumers upgrading or replacing their cooktops, ovens and rangehoods. Sales are coming from the lower to medium end and price is important whatever the appliance, and it does determine what people buy and where they buy. While price is not the only factor, it is the most influential when it comes to the sale. We also have a steady replacement business with real estate agents because we do the whole job with licensed plumbers and electricians.”
While sales are strong across the board brands such as Samsung, Electrolux and Fisher & Paykel were popular. “What we have noticed is a trend to black appliances – Sharp had black fridges that flew out the door.”
He said the Melbourne store that opened in June was producing very promising results and sales have already surpassed the level of its two slowest stores. Plans for another store in NSW or Victoria will be announced “sooner rather than later.”
Hammerman is confident the market will continue to grow “although some developers are talking about a slowdown in mid-2017 but we have not seen any signs of this yet but I believe the real estate market in Sydney has to slow down eventually.”