Miele, the €3.32-billion German luxury home appliances major, which gained a cult following after the legendary Steve Jobs revealed in a 1996 Wired magazine interview that his family had settled on a washing machine from the company (after researching at length for a washer which uses a lot less soap, a lot less water, but still makes the clothes come out much cleaner), is witnessing traction in the project delivery business in India.
Project delivery, a complete B2B (business to business) concept, refers to providing a huge array of appliances to real estate projects. Currently, Miele India, a 100-per cent wholly owned subsidiary, derives 80 per cent of its business from the retail (individual home) category — a B2C (business to customer) offering.
“In the past few years, due to ups and downs in the economy, the realty sector growth had slowed down, which prompted us to concentrate largely on our retail projects. But, in recent times, things are looking bright. Mega luxury apartment projects are coming up in India, just as in China, Singapore, Hong Kong, and the UAE We are certainly bullish on project deliveries, which will occupy 50 per cent of our business in the country, in the next three years,” Miele India Managing Director Rana Pratap Singh told Deccan Herald.
The company, which has already delivered appliances to a project in Kochi, will be delivering its biggest order so far to a project in Delhi (12,000 appliances), followed by similar orders in Mumbai and Bengaluru in the next three years, taking the total appliances delivered to 20,000 units.
“There is saturation in the European market. In Asia, the economy continues to rise. Around 70 per cent of our business in Asia is coming from project deliveries, which will trickle down to India too. The country has seen a line of NRI millionaires returning home, packed with awareness and experience about our brand, adding to the demand for aspirational products,” Singh said.
Miele has invested around Rs 100 crore in India, having enjoyed a CAGR of over 70 per cent in the last 3-4 years. It sells 75 appliances here, mostly for the kitchen and wash area, classified into three categories — cooking, cooling and laundry, which are imported from its facilities in Germany.
Operating in a luxury niche, the company claims to be away from all competition. “We cater to select markets, especially tier-I cities such as Mumbai, Bengaluru, Surat, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Hyderabad and Chandigarh among others, through 37 points of sale, which will reach 47 this year. Being a foreign company, we can only sell through dealers, and not on our own,” he added.
Singh was in the City for the opening of a Sunrise Home Solutions showroom, where Miele’s appliances will be displayed and retailed.
DH News Service