Merloni Elettrodomestici Romania, the local branch of the Italian home appliances company, maker of the Indesit and Ariston brands sold more than 21 million euros' worth last year, up 75% compared with the previous year.
This is nearly twice the 40% growth the company officials had anticipated last year.
"The growth was mainly due to the specialised electronics and home appliance retail chains. They promoted credit sales systems that the market welcomed," Mugurel Nicolae, marketing manager of Merloni Elettrodomestici Romania said.
According to Nicolae, the increase in the number of products sold last year reached 53%. "This (the increase in value rather than volume) means that part of our clients have turned to more expensive products built on more sophisticated technologies," Nicolae said.
Merloni estimates the number of home appliance products will go up by 40%. The company accounts for 14% of the Romanian market, according to its own estimates.
"Ariston, our group's high-end brand accounts for 2% of the Romanian home appliance market, while Indesit, the middle-end brand accounts for 12%," the Merloni official says.
The Merloni brands hold the strongest position on the washing machine segment of the Romanian white goods market, where Indesit is the second-leading brand (20%).
Other significant distributors of Merloni products besides the electronics and home appliance stores like Flanco, Altex and Domo, are the international chains operating in Romania (Metro, Carrefour, Selgros), as well as the independent dealers.
All the major international players in this industry are operating on the Romanian home appliance market estimated at more than 700,000 units. For instance, US-based Whirlpool Group is the washing machine segment leader.
The Swedes at Electrolux are the leaders of the cooker segment, particularly because they have a factory in Satu Mare. The leader of the third major segment of the white goods market, that is refrigerators and other refrigerating equipment is the domestic producer Arctic, which accounts for about half of the market.
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