By Claire Reilly
Breville has joined Sunbeam in bemoaning the presence of house brands in the retail scene, saying its Australian business was “impacted” in the first half of the last financial year due to a strong presence of retailer-sourced home brands in Australian stores.
The comments from Breville CEO Jonathan (Jack) Lord – made in the company’s annual report, which was released today – follow similar observations from rival smalls manufacturer Sunbeam. Sunbeam also took the release of its annual report as an opportunity to take a swipe at house brands and the negative influence they were having on well-known brands in Australia.
The concern over these ‘no-label’ brands has caused both Sunbeam and Breville to reposition in the market, with the former saying it had been forced to change prices across “a number of core product categories” in order to report stable unit sales and maintain market presence.
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Breville also acknowledged the need to reposition in the market, with Lord saying the company had increased its focus on “higher value Breville designed products”.
Lord noted that the company had seen a “positive response” in the market to high-end product launches, and that the Australian business had performed better in the second half of the 2011-12 financial year both due to these new launches, and a “further focus on the premium department store and specialist electrical channels”.
“Our ongoing investment in developing high quality innovative products and the extension of our geographic reach, positions the group well to compete effectively in a global marketplace,” said Lord.