Electrolux Group CEO Yannick Fierling has sent clear messages to local retailers during his brief stay in the Australian market.
Over the two days he was visiting Australia, the newly appointed Electrolux Group CEO met with several retail customers and end consumers in Sydney and Melbourne.
In an exclusive sit-down interview with Appliance Retailer, Fierling also explained his interest in visiting retailers and the opinions of floor staff as well as consumers.
“I want to spend quite a lot of time in the shops as we need to serve these markets. I really want to understand how the customer is interfacing with our products. I love to speak with salespeople to understand how they perceive our products as well as our strengths and weaknesses. If I get a chance to speak with end consumers – I love it even more. I want to see reality, I don’t want to see made up reality. It is really the only thing that counts – the market and the people facing the end consumer. We are all here to support the Australian and New Zealand teams and retailers in order to grow further moving forward.”
“I would like to tell our retailers that we are here for them. Our aim is to serve the end consumer and keep on having them loving our products. The only thing that counts is to make the end consumer happy and to add value in their daily life,” he said.
When asked about his perception of the local market, Fierling said he sees Australia as occupying a unique position globally.
“I see the Australian market as a very progressive market with a strong identity at the frontier or the crossroads between several markets – China, Europe and North America. Globally, I think today we have quite a lot of challenges – the world is very uncertain and very volatile. Lately there are tariffs which has been changing and I think this presents challenges as well as opportunities. You also have Europe with a war in Ukraine and a changing environment. Australia is a market which has a level of stability and is the right mix between these other markets.”
When asked about other brands in the market, including previous companies he has worked for including Whirlpool as well as more recently Haier and Fisher & Paykel, Fierling said Electrolux had a clear opportunity to differentiate in the market.
“We have to nurture our differences compared to some of the other companies in the market. For instance, the fact that we are manufacturing products close to our end consumers in Australia – and we have been using insights to customise our products for the end consumers is very important to us. By keeping this closeness and understanding the consumer as well as having a team who collaborates on a daily basis with our end consumers in this region – this is very important for us. We also want to leverage our brands and create products that are made for the markets with technology but not technology for technology’s sake – technology that is adding a value to end consumers and then we can move forward with the strengths that we do have as a company.”