By Zeba Fatima

The industry's leading floorcare suppliers reveal their present and future plans to Connected.

Nilfisk to expand with new premium range

Nilfisk identified a new opportunity for growth in the premium product category, allowing the company to leverage its expertise. Nilfisk Advance Australia and New Zealand general manager, Stephen Makin said customer education would assist with the introduction of new product ranges throughout the year.

“The mid level Bravo nagged range should continue our traditional area of strength with BMW-designed looks and features in 2012,” said Makins.

According to Makins the overall impact of online shopping on the traditional supply chain remains unclear.

“The impact of online activity is uncertain with several different models being applied by retailers and pure online channels,” he added.

Kambrook builds point-of-sale presence

This year Kambrook intends to maintain a prominent position in the social media sphere with an active Facebook page and blog.

“We will be expanding our social media platform this year and growing our presence further,” said Kambrook marketing manager Adam Tacey.

“We currently do not have any promotions planned but continue to use PR to publicise our floor care range and will endeavor to improve our in-store presence with new collateral and point-of-sale activity,” added Tacey.

Bosch launch promotions to support retail

BSH is currently reviewing social media potential in the home appliances market, and acknowledges the importance of customer engagement through Facebook and Twitter.

“We will continue to actively promote our appliances across as many relevant platforms that best meet our consumers’ needs,” commented Bosch CP category development manager Jonathan Peart.

“We expect the momentum of our launch to carry through into 2012, with a number of promotional activities and increased retailer support, as well as new models being released throughout the year,” said Peart.

Dyson lead with innovation

Dyson Australia marketing manager Karen Gentles said consumers are continuing to support the brand online.

“Dyson owners are the biggest advocates for Dyson, from using and experiencing the Dyson difference in their homes they are often surprised and delighted with the results,” said Gentles.

“Luckily for us Dyson owners are also quite vocal in social media channels about their love of Dyson,” she added.

With the release of new core floorcare innovations from Dyson last year, and strong results to date, the outlook for 2012 is positive.

With leading technology across barrels, uprights, handhelds and handsticks, Dyson currently holds the No 1 position as the market value leader in each product range, with the exception being handsticks.

“Through 2011, Dyson’s new DC35 handsticks range experienced huge demand internationally, a popularity which quickly led to global supply constraints on the product, which also affected Australia throughout the year,” said Gentles.

“With these constraints limiting local supply, the Dyson Handstick range still managed to achieve 40% value share through 2011, lagging by just 1% from the top position,” she said.

LG to expand consumer reach online

LG values social media as an important communication channel for reaching out to customers to hear product feedback.

“It’s a territory that is multi-faceted, and one that LG is looking to take a leading role in this year,” said LG Electronics Australia HA category marketing manager Paul Fitzgerald.

LG successfully launched a viral video campaign with its recent Kompressor Plus advertisement.

“Taking a light-hearted approach to demonstrating the suction power of the LG Kompressor vacuum, the video advertisement’s creative treatment was seen as a breakthrough for the category, with more than 2 million extra views in 4 weeks, nearly 60,000 Facebook shares and just over 800 Tweets,” he, added.

LG expects growth to continued off the back of the performance of Roboking and the innovative Kompressor Plus viral campaign.

“Following the success of CES this year, we’re also expecting exciting new products in both the bag-less and robotics categories to create even further growth,” said Fitzgerald.

LG’s floorcare range will continue to grow, and plans to unveil a new series of innovative line extensions in the next few months, including The Roboking 2.0 and the Kompressor Follow Me.