Electrolux lathered a new brand – Newspaper Kommersant No. 8 (7453) dated 01/18/2023

The Russian division of the Swedish Electrolux, which left the country, will launch its own brand of household appliances Vard in the spring. The product line is developed by specialists from the former Electrolux service center. Initially, it will be focused on the middle price segment, but in the future the company promises to enter the premium segment. The Vard team will raise debt financing for the project, but Kommersant’s sources claim that there are several billion rubles left on Electrolux’s accounts in the Russian Federation, which the company can use to start production here. Experts believe that the new brand is able to take a significant share of the market.

“Kommersant” found in the database “SPARK-Interfax” registered on LLC “E.Kampani” on October 24 the trademark Vard. Previously, this LLC belonged to the Swedish manufacturer of large consumer electronics Electrolux, which, after the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine, sold its Russian business to local top management (see Kommersant dated September 2, 2022).

Pavel Potapov has been the owner of E.Kampani LLC since September 2022, Alexey Belyakov is the CEO. The revenue of E.Kampani LLC for 2021, according to SPARK-Interfax, amounted to 17.9 billion rubles, of which net profit is 2.3 billion rubles. In addition to the trademark, the company registered the vard.ru domain, and an announcement was posted on the website page: “Meet me this spring.”

Alexey Belyakov explained to Kommersant that the company is going to introduce a new brand of household appliances Vard to the Russian market. According to him, it is planned to introduce the entire range of large household appliances (refrigerators, washing machines, cooktops, etc.), and plans to develop a line of small household appliances. “In the next two years, we are striving to occupy 2-3% of the domestic market,” Mr. Belyakov added. According to him, the development and testing of new equipment is carried out by employees responsible for the product range and service in the Russian division of Electrolux, and the project will be launched through loans.

At first, Vard equipment will be produced in Chinese and Turkish factories, in the future it is planned to expand production to Russian and European factories, the top manager specified: “The price segment of electronics will be at the average level, but within two to three years it is planned to move to the premium segment “. According to Kommersant’s interlocutor in the household appliances market, the company mainly intends to produce built-in household appliances.

A Kommersant source clarified that Electrolux did not have production facilities in Russia, only a technical support team remained in the country: “Most likely, the assembly will be carried out at Chinese factories that produced Electrolux equipment.” But Mr. Belyakov noted that the Swedish Electrolux does not manufacture its products in Chinese and Turkish factories: “Most of the electronics are assembled in the EU.”

The Vard project is unlikely to be developed only at the expense of borrowed funds, another interlocutor of Kommersant in the market notes. According to him, the capital that remained with Electrolux in Russia can be used to launch a new brand and production (the interlocutor of Kommersant claims that we are talking about several billion rubles). In this case, the Kommersant source notes, when the company returns to the country, it can, for example, receive E.Kampani LLC back, in whole or in part. In his opinion, the deal to transfer LLC to top management “could be formal, but in fact Electrolux continues to support the division.”

According to M.Video-Eldorado data for January-September 2022, Chinese and Turkish brands dominated sales of home appliances in Russia. In the refrigerator segment, 14.8% of the market was occupied by Haier, Belarusian Atlant was in second place with a share of 9.7%, in washing machines Haier was in first place with 18.2%, Turkish Candy was in second place (15.2%), and in the segment of ovens and hobs, Haier has 15.1%, followed by the Slovenian brand Gorenje (13.8%) (see Kommersant dated November 18, 2022). Electrolux at that time maintained a serious, albeit significantly reduced, share in sales of ovens and hobs: in September 2021 it was 14.9% in pieces, and in September 2022 – 5.1%.

According to Anton Guskov, a representative of the RATEK Association of Trading Companies and Manufacturers of Electrical Household and Computer Equipment, given the withdrawal of foreign vendors from the Russian market, the launch of a new brand may be successful and allow the company to take a significant share in the household appliances segment. However, the expert emphasizes, everything will depend on the development and implementation of the strategy, including the pricing one.

Timofey Kornev