By James Wells

SYDNEY: Housewares International has issued a statement regarding the A Current Affair report on espresso machines which was broadcast on Thursday 20 April.

Housewares International is the manufacturer of the Breville 800ES espresso machine featured in the report and is the distributor of the Philips Senseo coffee maker which was also included in the report.

“The consumer wants and needs to receive objective advice on product offerings in our categories. This program was clearly not objective and as such creates confusion in the minds of consumers and potentially, mistrust of all manufacturer’s claims,” said Breville general manager – marketing, Cameron Searle.
“This is in no-one’s best interest.”

Searle commented that Breville is currently the market leader in the espresso category. In recent data supplied to current.com.au, Breville increased its market share to 40 per cent of all units sold in the espresso category.

Four Breville espresso machines consistently rank within the top 10 machines in Australia and the 800ES manual machine has provided the brand with increased value share in the $75 million category.

A spokesperson commenting on the inclusion of the Philips Senseo machine in the report by A Current Affair, claims that the product should not have been used in a test alongside espresso machines.

“Senseo is marketed as an ease of use, quick roast ground coffee system NOT espresso. It’s target market is high-end instant users, not espresso users as depicted in the article,” the spokesperson said.

Over 10 million Senseo machines, which use Moccona-branded disposable pods purchased from supermarkets, have been sold globally.

Over 10,000 Senseo machines were sold in the two weeks prior to Christmas in 2005 following an extensive demonstration program through electrical retailers.