Retail sales director of Fisher & Paykel UK Mark Young explains why kitchen studios remain a cornerstone of the brand’s growth strategy and are influential to its experiential sales approach

While the high street may have seen an increase in the influence of omni-channel kitchen chains in recent years, independent studios and showrooms are keeping ahead of the curve by offering an experiential shopping environment.

When combining the perfect elements of new technology, fabulous displays and a memorable customer experience, independents can find their shop floors busier on a Saturday afternoon than many national-name kitchen retailers.

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Consumer-centric

Experiential can be integral to the commerciality of high-end appliances which is why it’s key to work with retail partners that can provide the best impression of your brand.

Today’s consumer of premium products is looking for a 360° experience, and independents are in the perfect position to bring appliances to life in store.

At Fisher & Paykel, we aspire to be the most human centred appliance brand in the world, and the way people live is at the heart of what we create.

We want the products we design to facilitate the increasingly busy life of the modern consumer and believe the way to do this is to participate in an active collaboration with retailers, studios and showroom partners to delight and inspire the consumers that pass through their doors.

We design and develop flexible appliances that are modular and intuitive in nature to best facilitate the consumer’s patterns of use at home.

With this in mind, we choose to carefully partner with showrooms that provide a premium space that’s large enough to create theatre in store, allowing customers to interact with the products themselves and use them in the same way they might at home.

Putting it simply, experience is everything.

Personalised approach

It might be easy to argue that independents have a specialist edge over big retail brands in this respect, but the truth is independent retailers just have a clear passion for customer service that some high-street names can’t compete with.

With independents there is an innate flexibility that allows for the provision of personalised sales experiences on any given day and, when selling premium appliances, this is exactly the kind of approach required.

Independent kitchen studios also benefit from a consumer desire for destination shopping that delivers a personal experience.

As premium kitchen appliances are rarely an impulse purchase, a specialised location where consumers can view extensive collections of appliances can offer more guidance, expertise and reassurance than a generalised retail environment.

Fisher & Paykel exhibited at Kbb Birmingham 2020, where Mark Young exclaimed the company was seeking 100 kitchen studios to join its network.