Following on from conversations with several appliances brands including Schweigen, Smeg and Miele also experiencing inflationary pressures, Appliance Retailer spoke to Electrolux about its own price rise strategy.
Newly appointed Electrolux Home Products managing director, Kurt Hegvold confirmed that price increases are under consideration. “In order to support our brands and people we will need to consider pricing action in the range of 4% to 8% on key parts of our portfolio in the foreseeable future. The exact categories and brands remain an ongoing area of assessment,” he told Appliance Retailer.
“Over the past 12 months Electrolux has worked hard to manage our cost base in the face of some material external challenges. We are experiencing the acceleration of several conspiring market conditions that are materially and negatively impacting our profit and loss (P&L) health. These include but are not limited to cost inflation on steel, resin, components, freight and more recently the weaker Australian dollar.”
In relation to fumigation, this is something that Electrolux Australia and New Zealand has been managing for a number of years. “As these are not new requirements, their impact to the business today is known and managed,” Hegvold said.
“We have also seen an improvement in access to shipping containers. We hope this will aid in product movement into ANZ and between Australia and New Zealand.”
2021 has been a good year with growth to date compared to 2020, with innovation performing ahead of expectations, strong growth from Vintec and Beefeater, a healthy core cooking business and progress on the company’s sustainability agenda, according to Hegvold.
“We have a lot of exciting products coming next year and we are planning to strengthen our position in the market through acquisition and internal growth initiatives for 2022.”