Romanian market, 2-3 years behind the Polish one

Marc Bitzer, the chairman of Whirlpool Europe, says the decline of the electrical home appliances market is temporary, as the evolution of the market must be assessed on the long term.

“The Romanian market of electrical home appliances is characterised by volatility, which is normal for an emerging market. I”ve seen the same feature on other markets we are present in. The Polish market is, for instance, 2-3 years ahead of the Romanian one,” said Marc Bitzer.

In recent years, the Romanian market of electrical home appliances has had its ups and downs, triggered mainly by the evolution of consumer lending. The highest level of sales was reached during 2002-2003 period, amid the boom in consumer lending, but most players on the market are saying the peak has not yet been reached.

“I am not concerned about the temporary slump of the market, I”d rather look at things on long term,” stated Marc Bitzer. After witnessing modest growth last year, sales logged on the Romanian electrical home appliances market began the year at a lower rate, compared with the beginning of 2005. This was triggered by several factors: the effects of NBR”s norms designed to slow down the growth in consumption, the rising costs of utilities and saturation in the market of large electrical home appliances (refrigerators, cookers, washing machines and range hoods).

The sharpest declines in the first quarter were registered by large electrical home appliances, which witnessed 20% lower sales than in the first three months of 2005, followed by small appliances, with a 10% decrease, in line with data released by Altex, the biggest retailer on the market.

The sharpest decline in sales of all the large electrical home appliances was posted by washing machines, approximately 25%, followed by refrigerators and cookers, which witnessed a decrease by about 15%.

Nevertheless, the low penetration of some categories of products, compared with mature European markets, indicates that there are still many financial opportunities for the US producer.

Moreover, Marc Bitzer further argued, new European retailers are going to enter the domestic market once Romania joins the EU, so that the list of Whirlpool partners will expand and push sales further.

Turnover Whirlpool derived in Romania last year increased by approximately 9%, to 50 million euros. “We want to overshoot the 50 million euro level this year despite the market”s current slight decline. To boost this year”s turnover, we are counting on brand awareness and on the new models we are going to bring onto the Romanian market,” Marc Bitzer also stated.

The brands Whirlpool brings in Romania are Whirlpool and Polar.

Romanian home appliances market

* Characterised by volatility, mainly generated by the evolution of consumer lending

* Sales started the year with a decline compared to the beginning of 2005

* Large home appliances posted the steepest decline, by 20 percent

* Small home appliances decreased by 10%

* Washing machine sales fell the most, by about 25 percent, followed by refrigerators and cookers with a decrease of around 15 percent.