F&P cooks up a success in America

By Yoke Har Lee

Fisher & Paykel's cookware range is poised to do well in the United States, says the executive director of a multibillion-dollar US merchandising group.

Bob Lawrence, of Associated Volume Buyers, says F&P's washing machines have also been selling well since the Auckland company entered the US market two years ago, but predicts its refrigerators will take longer to make a major impact because of different American requirements and sizes.

Associated Volume Buyers spends $US3.5 billion ($6.9 billion) a year. Half of this is on appliances, the other half is split evenly between electronic equipment and furniture.

It has 1100 members with 1800 outlets.

Mr Lawrence, who is leading an AVB board meeting in New Zealand, told the Business Herald: "I think they will expand in the cooking products in the near term. In refrigeration, because of our requirements, it will probably be a ways down the road. DishDrawer [dishwasher] has taken off. And our sales have just grown exponentially in Smart Drive [washing machines]." he said.

F&P's forecast for this financial year is for US sales of 20,000 DishDrawers and 12,000 Smart Drives.

In August, it sold 1700 DishDrawers and 1100 Smart Drives in America.