F&P opens flagship store in China, more to follow

Andrew Paykel (left) and Haier general manager for F&P products Jason Xu toast the new store. Photo / Christopher Adams

Fisher & Paykel Appliances has opened a flagship Chinese store in the city of Hangzhou, near Shanghai.

The city of about six million people is small by Chinese standards but affluent.

Speaking at the Hangzhou store's opening ceremony, F&P international chief operating officer Andrew Paykel described the site as the firm's "entree" into the Chinese market.

"Hangzhou is a very wealthy city," he said. "It's a premium city, there are very discerning customers here."

Philip Carmichael, Asia-Pacific president of Haier, the Chinese home goods maker that will sell and market F&P in China through its dealership network, said the shopping centre housing the new store was one of the most upmarket in the country.

But F&P would face the challenge of convincing wealthy Chinese - its target demographic - to buy a brand virtually unknown in China.

On Saturday, Haier vice-president Zhou Yunjie said F&P lacked brand awareness in the country, and it would be a long time before Chinese consumers accepted its products.

Paykel agreed that China was "one of the toughest markets to crack" - and very complex - but the firm was fortunate to have its partnership with Haier that came to fruition following the Chinese company's purchase of a 20 per cent stake in F&P last year.

"People here will always tell you to halve your expectations and double your budgets," he said. "[China] is the sort of market that takes a lot of time and it's not a short-term proposition. We recognise that it's a medium- to long-term strategy for us. We're not expecting rapid sales growth."

He said Haier had excellent distribution channels throughout China.

"With Haier's support and know-how I'm sure we'll gradually pick the business up [in China]."

Paykel said F&P's main competitors in China would be high-end brands such as Miele and Siemens, not Haier.

F&P planned to open three more Chinese stores within the next 12 to 18 months in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou, he said.

F&P opened its first Vietnamese store in Ho Chi Minh City on Saturday, and was planning to open its first Indian store in Hyderabad in July.

New Zealand's Ambassador to China, Carl Worker, who attended the opening of the Hangzhou store, said F&P had a huge opportunity for growth in the Chinese market.

"Many of New Zealand's top brands would not yet be well known in China, but there's no reason in the world why they can't become well known," he said.

Worker said that while many Chinese remained poor, there was also a huge population with money to spend and a taste for top-end imported merchandise.

"That's now becoming real in China - it's not a poor market anymore."

* Christopher Adams travelled to China as a guest of Haier.