Miele has enjoyed a very strong start with its new 6000 range of cooking appliances, with sales exceeding expectations and a few surprises thrown in regarding colour and appliance selection.
Meeting with Appliance Retailer at Cafe Vue, one of Miele’s brand ambassador Shannon Bennett’s Melbourne eateries, Rudi Niemoeller, category manager for food and beverage preparation, says after an incredibly hectic 2013 launch period for the new appliance series, it’s nice to have time to visit Chartered Agents in the field and assist sales staff in matching consumers with the right appliances.
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Niemoeller reports that due to the appeal of the seamless, touchscreen user interface of its premium M Touch collection, there has been more demand at these higher price points than expected prior to launch. Miele expected the younger crowd to be accepting of this technology because they have grown up with it and almost expect it from their appliances now, but the demand from older consumers has been surprising.
The colour split has also been a surprise. Miele launched Generation 6000 in four aesthetics: CleanSteel, Obsidian Black, Brilliant White and Mink (marketed in other regions as ‘Havana Brown’). While Niemoeller expected CleanSteel to be the most popular (it accounts for around 70 per cent of orders), he did not expect the colours to be as popular as they have been so readily. In Australia, the next most popular modes are black, then white and brown. In New Zealand, white is the most popular colour, followed by black and brown.
Miele’s Generation 6000 is comprised of traditional ovens, compact ovens, steam ovens and combination steam ovens, warming drawers, an automatic coffee machine, microwaves and speed ovens. Niemoeller said growth in the market has been driven by the remarkable uptake in Miele’s steam and microwave ovens.
“Steam cooking has developed into an international megatrend,” Niemoeller said. “Whilst Miele was the first manufacturer with a domestic built-in steam oven in Europe, and also the first brand to launch a built-in steam oven on the Australian market, there is an ever-increasing number of manufacturers who now also have at least some type of product offering in this category.
“Whilst there are currently no conclusive and reliable independent market data for built-in steam ovens, Miele’s current sales trends would suggest that steam ovens is a rapidly growing sub-category and one of the key value drivers in major cooking appliances.”
Niemoeller said that Miele Chartered Agents can expect to see developments in rangehoods in 2014, while there should also be some exciting releases in the company’s other appliance category, though he remained tightlipped as to what they may be.