Intention to be major global player.

Fisher & Paykel exhibited at EuroCucina for the first time this year – emphasising the brand’s intentions to become a major global player under the guidance of Haier.

Auckland-based Fisher & Paykel executive vice president for marketing globally, Greg Shepherd told Appliance Retailer, the move to EuroCucina is part of a global strategy to improve awareness of the brand.

“In recent years with improvements with our products, and under the stewardship of Haier, we are taking our brand globally,” Shepherd said.

David Woolcott, Stuart Broadhurst, Dan Witten-Hannah and Ben Normoyle (Fisher & Paykel)

“We are already very strong in Australia, New Zealand and North America. We have been in the UK for 13 years and we need to look at the expansion and future foundations in the European market.

“That started with at IFA in Berlin last year and we recently supported Haier for the AWE show in Shanghai last month in March and we have had EuroCucina on our radar for many years. The stars have aligned for us and we have a perfect product set available and as the ultra-premium brand for Haier globally, this is the place for us to demonstrate what appliances with true design mean to the market.

“A lot of people can go into appliance retailers and it is a blaze of stainless or glass and there is a lot of common elements between products. But no one can match our New Zealand heritage dating back to 1934 and that we are New Zealand’s largest employer of designers and engineers with 450 people in our Auckland and Dunedin design centres and we also make beautiful products.

Hero products on the stand included premium column refrigeration range with variable temperature zones and twin evaporative coolers available in 18-inch, 24-inch and 30-inch formats, a family of 60cm built-in ovens and the Series 9 DishDrawer with knock-to-open functionality.

Fisher & Paykel Australia chief operating officer, Ben Normoyle, said the EuroCucina execution redefines what the brand represents on a global stage.

“In Australia, we have some great legacy in laundry and refrigeration, but we see the Fisher & Paykel brand moving into the built-in kitchen appliance sector and there is no better show in the world than EuroCucina to send that message. What has really been enlightening to us over the last couple of years has been a new interaction into the specifiers, designers and architects in Australia and we have now put the right capabilities in our business to talk to those people and understand how many of them come to shows like this.

“We have 100 of those people from Australia booked for breakfast over the next four mornings to engage with them with our designers. The benefit is they work hand-in-glove with our retailers in telling that story and bringing that Fisher & Paykel kitchen suite to life and when you see it here – it is an extraordinarily compelling offer.

“Being part of the Haier global family has allowed us to have the strength and support to invest in our in-store experience, research and development as well as product and brand which is complemented with an investment to be at an event like EuroCucina and this brings the brand to life and at the same time we have the Haier brand that is growing simultaneously in a different part of the market.”

A New Zealand food station on the stand featured Kawa Kawa tea, ice cones with Golden Kiwifruit syrup, Freeze-dried noble red wine sherbet and marshmallows dipped in Manuka honey roasted on a Fisher & Paykel cooking element within carved New Zealand stone.