Electrolux and Whirlpool have announced measures which they plan to undertake to make their companies truly sustainable in the future. 

Armour Home has announced the launch of a new subsidiary company Armour Nordic, to distribute selected Armour brands in Sweden.

The retail industry, which employs over 3 million people in the UK, has at last received official recognition of its unique skills employed on the retail floor, as the first industry-wide training scheme that will provide essential skills and widely-recognised transferable qualifications has been launched in London.

Guided by the findings of its recent research which revealed that waiting for repair engineers to call is one of the biggest home life irritations, Indesit Company has introduced two-hour appointment slots for the company's engineer visiting customer homes in the UK.

The European Parliament has voted to keep the familiar A-G energy labelling format for televisions, but not for fridges. This situation will create customer confusion, reported the BRC. The introduction of a new set of energy efficiency categories for fridges will include, for example a rating of ‘A-20' - to indicate the product is 20% more efficient than ‘A' and ‘A-40' for 40% more efficiency than ‘A' etc.

Electrolux has appointed Brad Tribble as head of Northern Europe, a region encompassing the UK, Ireland, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Stockholm and Finland. Ian Banes will take over as country head for Electrolux Major Appliances UK, reporting directly to Brad Tribble. 

Perhaps the biggest complement to retra for its action and advice packed conference is the fact that next year's event is almost sold out already. Obviously the conference's delegates and speakers were so pleased with its outcome that they are asking for more.

Belling has gained a place in Guinness World Record History alongside 100 UK school children after setting a world record for the most people cooking simultaneously.

Eco-holidays worth £500 are to be offered by PURE to independent dealers as an incentive to sell more of its Energy Saving Trust accredited radios. The promotion will run from June until the end of this year. On top of the monthly incentive, running from October to December 2009, dealers will have the opportunity to win the grand prize of a luxury eco-holiday worth £2,000.

Total Disc Repair (TDR), a supplier of disc repair machines based in Dorset, has launched a promotional competition designed to see how much money can be generated by a retailer with one disc repair machine, over a six month period.   

The full extent of Samsung's investment in the white goods sector and the company's intention to establish itself as a major player in this market is reflected by the suite of built-in cooking appliances which the manufacturer has just launched.

The second generation of the Loewe Connect televisions series, in addition to the award-winning design has been equipped with a host of new features

The new hybrid Everio GZ-X900, or Everio X, is a pocket size video camcorder that offers the powerful shooting combination of Full HD video and nine megapixel still photos, plus creative shooting functions such as slow motion video and high speed ‘motor drive' still photography. It allows simultaneous five megapixel digital still shooting while recording Full HD video. 

The new X Series WALKMAN is Sony's first portable media to feature a touchscreen display on an OLED screen.

The Philips NP2900 is a compact yet advanced wireless music player, that can stream music as well as internet radio stations.

Models in Smeg's first built-in coffee machine range fit in to a reduced height oven capacity (45cm) and boast 25 settings for customisation and a five level programmable coffee strength. The machines take beans or ground coffee to make a variety of different coffee blends, and feature a steam function, a frothing nozzle for cappuccinos and a hot water function for other hot drinks.

The new Maximus vacuum cleaner offers swift and easy cleaning of a wide range of floors as well as soft furnishings. This is down to its excellent air flow and two specially developed nozzles, the Dust Magnet and the Textile Turbo nozzle. The Dust Magnet nozzle's all round suction means one ‘sweep' is enough to pick everything up first time. It also automatically adjusts to both carpet and hard floor.

The first Amica dishwasher on the British market is a fully-integrated, AAA energy rated, 60cm model which has 12 place settings and seven wash programmes in four temperatures.

Hotpoint's Openspace oven has a 70 litre capacity, 20% more space than a traditional single oven, whilst still retaining a standard single oven dimension. With an insulating divider the oven can be split into two compartments that can be used independently, allowing cooking at two different temperatures and two cooking modes at the same time

As Chief Executive of AMDEA, I have to take a broad approach and consider a wide range of issues and perspectives. Hence I recently attended a breakfast meeting discussing trade relations with China.

Reflecting the current financial climate, this year's retra annual conference in London was titled ‘From Gloom to Boom'. Kept to a tight schedule of six hours, it featured 14 presentations (which was a record in itself in the 49-year history of retra conferences). A wide range of speakers demonstrated to the audience of retailers, manufacturers and service suppliers that despite the downturn in the economy, the industry has plenty to offer to its customers and trade partners although at times some players may need to resort to ‘guerrilla marketing' (more about this later).

Some ideas are ahead of their time. Eight years ago, Bush launched an internet TV, allowing viewers to access the web from the comfort of their couch. But the system was slow (most homes only had dial-up internet connections) and clunky. Fast forward eight years, and the situation has changed beyond recognition. Government statistics show that, in 2008, more than 65% of all homes in Great Britain had internet access, with more than half of all homes (56%) having broadband connections. What is more, broadband speeds are increasing all the time.

The course will cover key aspects of television technology and will place particular emphasis on understanding the customer benefits and step-up features of the core BRAVIA range.

Amica, the largest manufacturer of domestic appliances in Poland, commanding a 12.6% market share (followed by Electrolux with a 11% market share) with subsidiaries in Germany, Russia, Romania, Czech Republic and Denmark, entered the UK market in 2006. 

The time when the majority of people lived in relatively large houses which could accommodate many appliances designed for a single purpose is becoming history. Homes, in general, are getting smaller and kitchen space is at premium. This is related to a number of socio-economic trends.

Since the recession took hold we have had an increase in rental business, relating to new and used equipment; and in sales of second-hand TV and video gear, coming in as ex-rental and part-exchanged units. Apart from the obligatory electrical safety check, some of this is in dire need of refurbishment to maximise its appeal, even to impecunious customers.