Whirlpool expands its portfolio with new range of customized Built-in Kitchen Appliances for Indian customers

Mr. Sunil D’Souza, MD, Whirlpool of India with Celebrity Chef Kunal Kapur

~The company also forays into commercial range of appliances~

Mumbai, Thursday, 2^nd November, 2017: Whirlpool of India, a subsidiary of Whirlpool Corporation, announced today the launch of its new range of customized built-in kitchen appliances which are specially designed to cater to the needs of Indian kitchens. The company unveiled a new range of hoods with sleek designs and enhanced features, offering customers a wide variety of 25 models to choose from. Whirlpool’s extensive range of built-in kitchen appliances includes ovens, microwaves, coffee machines, hoods, hobs, dishwashers, refrigerators, wine coolers and water purifiers. Versatile and technologically advanced, these appliances make cooking a pleasure and can infuse refreshing energy into any kitchen. The company also forayed into commercial range of appliances in India. The announcement was made today at ‘AceTech 2017’ – India’s largest architecture, construction and engineering exhibition – in Mumbai.

Whirlpool’s focus on expanding the Built-in appliances portfolio speaks volumes for their growing focus on the premium appliances market in India. In 2014, the company strategically entered the Built-in appliance segment when the awareness about cuisines, food and appliances was gaining ground. The total built-in appliances business in India currently stands at around Rs. 1500 crore of which 80% is held by mass players and the rest is with the premium players.

Commenting over the launch of new range of India specific Built-in hoods in India, Mr. Sunil D’Souza, MD, Whirlpool of India said, “With the growing demand of Whirlpool’s range of built-in kitchen appliances in India, it was imperative for us to offer professionally crafted European products to the homemakers that not only tops the charts in aesthetics but are equally useful to the Indian needs. The Built-in industry is currently growing at the rate of 25%. We are a crucial player of the industry and we are making a double digit growth every year. We have grown more than 50% since we started our Built-in appliance segment in India.”

Whirlpool is a market leader in high end products in Europe and it strives to offer its customers with the same range of products in India that are well-crafted, robust, and durable and speak best in terms of craftsmanship, quality as well as technology. Currently, 90% of the appliances that are sold in India are imported from Whirlpool’s multiple manufacturing facilities in Europe.

Whirlpool also made its entry into the commercial appliance segment in India official today. The launch of new product range is part of company’s aggressive growth plans in order to expand its presence in new product categories. Introduction of commercial appliance is part of Whirlpool’s new business strategy to expand its product portfolio in cooking, refrigeration and clean & hygiene segment in the commercial appliances space. The newly introduced range of commercial appliances include ovens, dishwashers and ice makers.

Speaking at the launch, Mr. Natarajan A., Head- New Business Unit, India said, “With numbers of restaurants, hotels, institutes, hospitals and food line businesses mushrooming in the country, we see a huge scope for growth in commercial appliances segment in India. Currently, the B2B market size of Kitchen equipment in India is INR 1900cr and laundry equipment stands at INR 5000cr. The overall industry is growing at a rate of 10-12 per cent annually. We are currently foraying into the Kitchen equipment market of the commercial industry and eying a total of five per cent market share. Soon, we’ll thrill our partners with an innovative product from Whirlpool in its signatory segment of laundry.”

Whirlpool has already partnered with distributors and food service consultants in India and has started supplying its appliances. It believes that there are several stakeholders who influence the success of their penetration into the Indian built-in appliances market. For the same, they have partnered with some renowned real estate developers, kitchen manufacturers, interior designers and architects.