By James Wells
SYDNEY: Conair has appointed the supplier of Scanpan, Bodum and Avanti – Sheldon & Hammond, as exclusive agent and license holder of the Cuisinart brand in Australia and New Zealand, effective immediately.
Conair Australia and New Zealand managing director, Wade Beach, told Current.com.au the decision to appoint a distributor will provide the Cuisinart brand with an opportunity to expand its market presence and provide Conair with more focus to launch innovative personal care products in the lead up to Christmas.
“Sheldon & Hammond is a great organisation. They are one of the biggest suppliers to department stores such as Myer and David Jones, particularly in the housewares part of the business,” Beach said.
“They are a formidable company and they will do well with the non-electrical food preparation equipment and new Cuisinart product coming through. It will allow us to do the best we can by concentrating on our strengths.
“We have transferred all stock to Sheldon & Hammond in Sydney and Auckland and we will be assisting them from the sidelines,” Beach said.
The 30-year old Cuisinart brand is a subsidiary of Conair and manufactures a range of high quality electrical and non electrical food preparation equipment including cookware, bakeware and kitchen accessories as well as a range of food preparation appliances including blenders, food processors, hand blenders, hand mixers and stand mixers.
“Sheldon & Hammond has operations throughout Australia and New Zealand and have been in business for more than 70 years. They have an extensive experience and knowledge of the department store and independent specialty cookware outlets both in Australia and New Zealand,” Beach said.
“This experience places Sheldon & Hammond in an ideal position to build the Cuisinart brand in both non electrical food preparation and cookware as well as the electrical appliance business in these markets.”
Sheldon & Hammond managing director, Sandy Angus, was unavailable for comment.