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The challenge for us is to convince the trade and our customers that Haier is now a different company from the one they bought from ten years ago
Jeff Moody, Haier UK sales and marketing director, is charged with the task of implementing the company’s ambitious plans for the UK market, which in five years’ time, it is hoped, will become one of the top five European brands. He told Anna Ryland how Haier plans to get there.
Haier has a considerable industrial heritage and manufacturing infrastructure but in the UK the company has a low profile and is mostly known as a producer of OEM labels. Founded in China near Beijing in 1984, the company grew rapidly, catering for the expanding home market, to become the number one domestic appliance brand in China, with approximately 35% market share overall. According to Euromonitor 2009, Haier is also the world’s number one white goods manufacturer in terms of retail volume market share per brand for refrigerators and washing machines.
Haier’s offer
Haier’s product portfolio includes laundry, refrigeration, dishwashing and wine coolers. However the company still produces OEM appliances for a number of brands operating in the UK. ”In terms of refrigeration, Haier could compete with any brand on the market. All models are A+, and in 2011 they will be A++,” explains Jeff. “We have to get away from the perception that Haier is about entry price appliances. The company prides itself in the quality of its products, which is reflected by a number of Red Dot awards it won for design and innovation. We can provide retailers with a wide product portfolio matching all their customers’ needs. We have refrigeration products of any specification: two door, three door, four door or even six door, if required. At the same time however we manufacture truly aspirational products, such as glass-finished side-by-sides which have just been launched in Germany.
“Haier’s market positioning in the UK, in terms of pricing, is around the Indesit price points; in terms of quality – it is higher, but to justify higher prices Haier has to build its brand name. A part of Haier five-year plan is to take the brand from its current market positioning to where it should be sitting on account of the quality of its products. Our ambition is to make Haier one of the top five European brands within the next five years.”
The company has just set up its new European HQ in Paris, and its European CE, Rene Aubertin, together with the management team are working towards making Haier a global brand. The Haier brand is already established in the USA, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.
“The biggest challenge for Haier in the UK is to grow the quality image of the brand, and this can only be achieved by the trade’s acceptance, consumer awareness and confidence in the brand. That’s why it is so important for us to convince retailers to put the product on the floor while relying on Haier to communicate its unique characteristics.”
To communicate its new strategy, Haier will be launching a large-scale corporate campaign in 2011 and will shortly unveil its UK website which will carry an extensive range of consumer and trade information. “The message underlying these efforts will be innovation – not how we can compete on price.
“In the next 12 months, we will be focusing on white goods in the UK, and at a later stage we will consider entering the television sector with our LED range and our innovative wireless TVs.”
Haier and indies
In January 2011, Haier plans to unveil its display plan for the independent channel and its two-year guarantee offer which will be exclusive to this channel. “The company wouldn’t offer this if it wasn’t confident in the quality of its products. This is going to help the independent to differentiate its Haier offer which will have a good margin opportunity. We already have an excellent service support infrastructure, with JTM, offering round-the-clock support for Haier’s customers, 48-hour call out service, two customer contact centres and fully stocked central parts warehouse.”
Together with a new market strategy, Haier has new ambitions: “We don’t want to be price setters in the market but wish to be recognised as producers of innovative and competitive solutions. Constant innovation will help us to keep our place in the market and protect prices of our products in the current difficult trading conditions.”
