Merloni: 2m euros for marketing

Italian group Merloni Elletrodomestici, which sells the Indesit and Ariston brands, will invest 2 million euros in marketing operations in Romania, to support sales. “We are not contemplating production operations in Romania, at least not for the next two years. We will, however, invest in promotion campaigns and in developing the organisation we have in Romania,” Aldo Taddeo, Merloni’s Central European manager said. “We are number four on the Romanian market at the moment, but plan on becoming number three by yearend, which means outrunning Whirlpool,” Taddeo added. He explained the top two players on this market, Turkey’s Arcelik that took over domestic maker Arctic and Swedish group Electrolux were harder to outgrow because they were also engaged in productive operations in Romania. Merloni officials estimate this year’s sales to reach 47 million euros, which would account for 240% growth from last year. Merloni is currently selling the Indesit and Ariston brands in Romania. “Indesit is positioned as a middle-end brand while Ariston is positioned as a premium brand and targets those clients that have a higher purchasing power,” Taddeo said. ZF