The Easa Saleh Al Gurg Group’s new home appliance division Better Life has added top New Zealand home appliance brand Fisher and Paykel to its growing portfolio of international brands.
Better Life will be Fisher and Paykel’s exclusive distributor for the entire Middle East region.
Better Life, the only specialist home appliance chain in the UAE, now has eight international brands under its wing: Siemens, Binatone, Terim, Admiral, Wolf, Scandinova, Starmix and Fisher and Paykel. Better Life plans to boost its product portfolio with new outlets across the region; Oman and Qatar are earmarked for entry in the near future.
Established in 1938, Fisher and Paykel started life as a manufacturer for key brands like Kelvinator, Bendix and National Panasonic.
Today, Fisher and Paykel is a public stock company and the largest manufacturing company in New Zealand. It manufactures and markets under its own name a series of ‘smart’ technology platforms such as Smart Drive® ‘auto washer’ washing machines, Active Smart® refrigerators and Dish Drawer® dishwashers.
‘The ‘smart’ technology Fisher and Paykel has harnessed allows it to compete with much larger companies in its own region, and also to make significant inroads into highly competitive markets such as Singapore, Hong Kong, the USA and the UK in recent years,’ says Ajai Dayal, General Manager, Retail and Marketing, Easa Saleh Al Gurg Group.
‘Fisher and Paykel products are tailor-made for the Middle East since our buyers are becoming increasingly quality and style conscious, and are looking for innovative solutions to their day-to-day requirements in the home,’ adds Dayal.
Fisher and Paykel has 60 per cent market share in New Zealand and 25 per cent in Australia, and exports to over 40 countries worldwide. The company earned $US600 million in export revenues alone in 2003.
Geoff Ebdon, International Sales Manager, Fisher and Paykel said: ‘Our international approach is to drive sales through our innovative technology developed in New Zealand and protected by over 400 international patents. Our new relationship with Better Life gives us a solid local platform to leverage our competitive advantages in the region.
‘We are very optimistic about being in the Middle East, particularly at this time of unprecedented growth in the UAE real estate sector. Our approach to business is simple: our washing machines wash clothes better, and our refrigerators keep food fresh longer. We believe that this is what customers are looking for.’
Positioned in the middle to upper price segment, Fisher and Paykel home appliances are now available in the UAE at Better Life outlets in Dubai: Karama (next to Strand Cinema); at Homes-‘R-Us in Mazaya Centre; and on Dubai-Sharjah highway.
From AME Info