The Christmas period was dramatically up on 2019 for Status Plus, according to director, Ashley Balderson.
“People were spending like there is no tomorrow with dishwashers, laundry, refrigeration and cooking all featuring on shopping lists,” he told Appliance Retailer.
“With this incredible unexpected demand, factories are finding it difficult to balance manufacturing and staff safety resulting in a serious lag across many SKUs with all brands feeling the pinch. Back order is fast becoming the norm. For me it’s a question of juggling what is available and communicating closely with our clients who are getting more accustomed to waiting.”
Camberwell Electrics owner, Hans Vanderstadt said the first couple of weeks of January is usually quite challenging with people on holidays but he anticipates sales to ramp up in the next week or two.
“Air conditioning sales have been very slow in the absence of a heatwave, which has been the case for the last six years in Melbourne,” he said.
“As for stock, there continues to be slower than usual product delivery across the board, but flow has improved since Christmas and information from suppliers is more reliable now. The last quarter was tough with deliveries taking six to eight weeks instead of the usual two to three weeks.
“We are very thankful of the support from BSR Group across all facets of our business, especially during the three-month lockdown. Online growth has been good and customer enquiries have significantly increased, which has been driven by the BSR Group, Designer Appliances and National Product Review digital channels.”
e&s has ramped up its marketing efforts across TV, radio, digital and catalogues over the past year, and since launching a transactional website in December 2019, online sales have been very strong, co-owner Rob Sinclair told Appliance Retailer.
“Over the last few months, including December, there has been unprecedented demand, particularly for dishwashers, laundry and refrigeration, which has put major pressure on supply chains and uncertainty around lead times remains a significant challenge.
“But we have experienced a one in 100-year change in consumer behaviour and I believe the new habits we have formed – working from home and cooking at home – are here to stay and of course that’s great news for the appliance industry.”
Last month, Appliance Retailer reached out to national retailers to obtain commentary on Christmas trade, which can be read here.
More recently, leading suppliers shared key sales trends which attributed to a strong Christmas sales period. Read more here.