BSH Australia has confirmed a record sales result for 2020 with all brands – Bosch, Siemens, Neff and Gaggenau – enjoying growth, driven by a strong replacement market, as well as robust home renovation activity throughout most of 2020.
“Consumers are investing in high quality product and this is reflected in our pleasing sales result for 2020,” BSH Australia general manager for sales, Robert Warner told Appliance Retailer in a recent interview.
“At the start of Covid-19, the BSH team adapted to working from home within a matter of days and maintained communication across all business functions remotely. As a Melbourne-based business, we faced additional lockdown measures, so I am extremely proud of our team who did a commendable job.
“During the Covid-19 lockdowns, we experienced a shift in buying behaviour to online, particularly for urgent replacement appliances, such as washers, dryers and dishwashers. Restrictions forced bricks-and-mortar retailers to lift their online offer, expand product assortment and enhance their messaging. This in turn improved transparency and increased brand awareness as digital activity ramped up significantly during the initial lockdown period,” he said.
Although online shopping dropped off slightly as physical stores re-opened, BSH still expects growth to continue for the months and years ahead.
“People are going into stores to see, feel and touch product but many transactions are still being completed online from single product purchases to full kitchen refits,” Warner said.
“We have found online training and phone consultations with video to be beneficial as it allows the consumer to ask questions about the product in their own kitchen environment, rather than in the showroom.”
The Net Promoter Score (NPS) for all brands was up in 2020 amid a significant increase in customer calls.
“As the servicing of home appliances was considered an essential service, our technician team remained operational and we redirected many of our customer facing resources to virtual customer support service functions. Overall, this enabled BSH to be more proactive in servicing the needs of our customers.”
However, supply chain disruptions remain a challenge for the business – and the industry as a whole – with peak global demand. “This is likely to be the case for the next 6 to 12 months but the situation has improved from Q3 and Q4 2020 and we remain in constant contact with our retail partners to forecast demand as best we can,” Warner said.