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HOME APPLIANCES / KITCHEN LIFESTYLE ADVERTORIAL IFA Home Appliances IFA IFA Home & Entertainment Electronics WE WILL FULLY UTILISE ALL THE RESOURCES TO DOUBLE OUR EUROPEAN OPERATION IN THE NEXT THREE TO FIVE YEARS Dr Lan Lin Executive Vice President of Hisense Group & Chairman of Hisense International HISENSE SETS NEW SIGHTS FOR GORENJE Hisense expands globally in production, R&D and product range with Gorenje and ASKO Less than a year ago, Gorenje became a part of the Hisense Group. But what was the motivation for the move? We put the question to Dr Lan Lin, Executive Vice President of Hisense Group & Chairman of Hisense International. It was a strategic move. Hisense has been building the brand and the company infrastructure worldwide with Europe and North America being the two most important regions. In Europe, we are strong in the West, with a factory and 5 subsidiaries. But we were relatively weak in Eastern Europe, including Russia. We also didn’t have any home appliance factories locally. Thirdly, Hisense has been strong on TV, refrigeration and air conditioning, but had no other kitchen appliances, like ovens or dishwashers. Combining Hisense’s European operations with Gorenje’s strong position in Eastern Europe, we have a very strong operation covering the entire continent, including East, West, Nordic regions and Russia. We now also have three big factories that can produce most of the appliances locally and the full knowhow, patents and technology when it comes to kitchen appliances. What does it mean for the future of the Gorenje and ASKO brands? These brands are now, besides Hisense and Toshiba, among our global brands. Gorenje and ASKO are very popular brands in Europe, especially in Eastern Europe. Gorenje in Europe is a mid to high level brand so that’s another reason we brought Gorenje in our Hisense group. We have very ambitious plans for the future. We are going to maintain the manufacturing activities, expand our Serbian factory and build a new TV factory in Velenje, Slovenia. We will fully utilise all the resources to double our European operation in the next three to five years. With Gorenje, Hisense also acquired several European production locations. Are the two companies going to be working together on R&D? If so, how and where? We’ll make our R&D bigger and stronger by supporting our kitchen appliances development globally. We will use the existing 500 engineers to focus on mid- to high level product development, expanding the kitchen R&D part to cover the R&D for China, North America, and so on. This R&D centre in Velenje, Slovenia, is not going to be only for Europe. In the future, it’s going to be the key R&D centre for the global market. Combined with our multimedia R&D, which is located in Germany at this moment, we will really benefit from both. By combining the two businesses we can jointly make our purchasing power much bigger which will further reduce the cost of our product to improve our profitability. Speaking of development – what are the latest achievements you will be showcasing at IFA 2019? For the first time, you will be presenting Hisense, Gorenje and ASKO brands together. Our booth will be bigger than the 3 brands’ booths combined when they were separate. We will present some of our new technologies on smart home, home connectivity and IoT, together with Gorenje’s well-known design lines and innovative “Life Simplified” home appliances and the high-level range of appliances marked with Scandinavian perfection under the ASKO brand » HALL 6.2 / STAND 201 32
HOME APPLIANCES / KITCHEN LIFESTYLE IFA Home Appliances DE’LONGHI GROUP TARGETS NEXT PHASE OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Paul Accornero, Group Chief Commercial Officer, De’Longhi Group on the company’s group sales performance In tough market conditions, De’Longhi has been performing well, with a rise in group revenues. We started by asking Paul Accornero, Group Chief Commercial Officer, De’Longhi Group, what lies behind the success: Paul Accornero Group Chief Commercial Officer, De’Longhi Group CHINA IS A SIGNIFICANT AND IMPORTANT PRIORITY FOR THE GROUP The key to the De’Longhi Group success has always been attributed to three things – our ambitious and passionate people, consistent investments behind industry-leading product innovation and our market-leading brands that stand for quality. Our growth story and success is not one to be viewed over the short term – we are running a marathon and not a sprint. In which geographic areas are you seeing the biggest growth, and why? We are very much a multinational company with strong business interests in Europe, but we have a global outlook to our next phase of business development. Western Europe has always been very important for the group and has been our main historical area of focus. While Western Europe will remain an important part of our business in the future, our fastest-growing geographies today are outside West Europe, namely Central and Eastern Europe and North America. We seek out market opportunities wherever they might be and where our core product categories have local consumer relevance and growth potential. China is a significant and important priority for the group in Asia. Following the development of the China market, the next likely steps for us in Asia are in Southeast Asia. What is your star product at IFA? Our focus this year is once again on the high-end part of the coffee market, with the new Maestosa with double automatic coffee grinding technology and double cappuccino, and the new La Specialista high-end barista pump espresso machine. On top of these innovations, De’Longhi Group remains focused on our partnership with Nespresso and is presenting the new high-end GranLattissima Nespresso direct one-touch milk machine that is especially important for German, Northern European, and consumers who prefer milk-based coffee drinks. Kenwood will present a new entry-level kitchen machine, Prospero Plus, which refreshes the very successful entry kitchen machine ranges of the brand for new young users. Braun’s success in the ironing category will be further supported with new models in the successful Carestyle Compact range of ironing systems and with further models in the standard Series 3 and Series 7 ironing ranges. How important is sustainability to the Group, and what are the key activities of note in this respect? We are continuing to move towards a higher level of integration of key environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors into our mainstream reporting and our investment decision-making. We are measuring and understanding the sustainability performance of our organisation and this has, over time, strengthened our awareness of the importance of defining concrete actions consistent with our strategy to mitigate and improve our impact. How important is IFA as a platform for networking and growing your business? As the premier international industry event of the year, IFA is an important business platform. It is an opportunity to meet key industry stakeholders, showcase new innovations, and provides a valuable focal point for the industry » HALL 1.1 / STAND 202 www.ifa-international.org IFA International • Saturday 7 th & Sunday 8 th September 2019 33
