Discover the full interview with Céline Monnier, General Manager of Vorwerk France, in podcast:
For more than 50 years, Vorwerk has been present in French homes with its famous Thermomix food processor. To achieve this, the French subsidiary of the German company has always relied on direct sales through its network of independent advisers. But the Covid-19 pandemic has somewhat shaken up the habits of the manufacturer, who has turned to digital to circumvent the limits caused by the various confinements.
This shift towards e-commerce has enabled Vorwerk to increase its online sales to 40% of its turnover in 2020. However, there is no question for the company to further increase the digital portion. in his income. “We took the fold of digital transformation, it allows us to have a 360-degree sales system. However, our DNA remains direct sales”, assures Céline Monnier, general manager of Vorwerk France. Thus, although digital is an additional advantage in the sleeve of the manufacturer, online sales today represent only 10% of its turnover. “It was very circumstantial”adds Céline Monnier, in reference to the health crisis.
While many French households acquired household appliances during 2020, Vorwerk does not raise any concerns about a possible slowdown in sales growth. The company even announced this summer the opening of a second factory dedicated to the production of Thermomix, its star product. In this context, 57 million euros will be invested. To date, France is still the manufacturer’s third largest market in the world, with 1,000 employees and 10,000 independent door-to-door sellers.
However, if the three-color market has proven to be strategic for Vorwerk in order to popularize its Thermomix, it is not yet up to par with Italy and Germany with regard to its Kobold vacuum cleaner. And although the company created the first portable stick vacuum cleaner under this name in 1929, the undisputed success of the Thermomix in France for 50 years has somewhat overshadowed this product. “We may have focused a little too much on Thermomix and not enough on Kobold”recognizes Céline Monnier.
For Vorwerk, it is therefore time to give a new dimension to Kobold, “a lesser known brand but which offers an equally powerful device” than the Thermomix, believes the general manager of the French subsidiary. “France has brought Thermomix notoriety a lot, but [elle] begins to catch up on Kobold, whose turnover doubled in 2021″, adds Céline Monnier. To continue its growth with Kobold, Vorwerk is relying in particular on its new VK7 cordless vacuum cleaner and scrubber. However, the German manufacturer does not forget its Thermomix, for which it recently presented a small revolution, namely a vegetable cutter.