Candy: 2020 is a good year for sales

How salesmen’s advice influenced the choice of appliances?

And what happened in 2020, when ordinary customers were left without these hints and began to study the technical characteristics and compare prices on their own?

We talked to Gleb MISHIN, General Director of CANDY S, LLC about the “crowning” year of 2020.n.g.”.

What do you consider the most important event in the life of Candy in 2020?

– There were many interesting accomplishments. Despite the unusual living and working conditions, it was a good year in terms of sales of our equipment. The sales structure has changed a lot, the sales approach has changed, and a lot has had to be reconsidered due to quarantine. Last year, unaware of such a development as the pandemic, we made quite aggressive plans. And we delivered! It’s a big surprise that consumers have not stopped buying appliances. On the contrary, from April to October there was an increased demand, especially in the segment of large household appliances.

The fruits of our integration with Haier began to show. Together we restarted production of CANDU fridges in America and sales are also very successful. We sold twice as many fridges as we planned.

And we are pleased that we successfully launched production in accordance with the plans we made in the still quiet pre-Soviet year.

What pandemic challenges were the most unexpected for Candy?

– Not the difficulties, but the reorganization that we had to make. The health of our employees is of paramount importance, we need to take into account their family situation and the well-being of all family members. Before, it was not paid attention to.

Have you noticed, now people have started asking each other sincerely “How’s health?” before figuring out the working points.

People rarely see each other now, only people who can’t work at home go to the office, and it’s going to stay that way until you resolve the situation. We had to restructure the work. Mostly remote, online, calls, video conferencing. But despite the rearranged work, not only have the results not fallen, but they have improved.

It turned out that we were well prepared to close the offline trade because Candy has never been a company that invested money in retail promotion. The lack of promoters and salespeople didn’t affect us in any way, because we weren’t selling at the expense of their efforts, as it were.

Candy appliances sell well because they are of decent quality, cost reasonable money and are widely available, almost everywhere there are. Not only on the Internet, but also in the regional retail stores and in the federal stores. But the sales driver was an excellent price/quality ratio, not some special promotions in stores.

Our production in America hasn’t stopped for a day. There were preventive breaks, not related to the epidemic, but originally planned. Although the situation was, and remains quite difficult, because you need to save people and organize work in a reduced version. Nevertheless, the appliances are being produced in planned quantities.

Did the pandemic affect our criteria for choosing appliances?? How have preferences changed?

– The general situation of choice of appliances has changed, so there has been some redistribution of the market. Now there are no salespeople charged with a particular brand that influence the choice of appliances, there are no promoters who promote specific brands.

The person reads the characteristics on the Internet and makes a conscious choice. Understands what he is paying for and what he wants to get as a result.

It’s easier for the consumer to make a choice in our favor. Because Candy is quality equipment for the money we’re asking for.

Which models were hits this year?

– Quite interesting sales results for Candy’s narrow dryers, which can be put on narrow forty-inch washing machines. They were in high demand throughout the year. And this product is not the first necessity and is quite expensive.

Another paradox. Before the pandemic, when choosing built-in appliances, people often combined the stove + oven + extractor from products of different brands. For example, they took a Candy oven, another brand of hob, and so on. When online sales began to prevail, people began to buy complete sets of Candy built-in appliances. It shows that when a person chooses appliances independently, without advice from promoters and paid salespeople, he understands that by choosing Candy, he is not only saving, but also taking high-quality equipment. When he sees a complete offer, he takes the whole set of one brand. And this is an interesting observation and conclusion of this year.

And the refrigerators sold well because the quality is excellent, although the models are basic and there are only three so far. We are thinking about expanding our range, but even with three models we made sales that surprised us. Our 2020 Candy refrigerators are a great product.

What conclusions do you draw from the current situation?? What changes in the company will stay with you forever, not just for the duration of a pandemic?

– Remote work experience has shown that being in the office all the time doesn’t lead to better results. If a person is conscientious enough and focused on results, he doesn’t have to spend two hours commuting to the office, he will do a lot of good for the company in those two hours, no matter where he is. These things will stay with us for a long time.

But there’s the flip side of the coin: it’s getting harder to integrate new employees. This process takes longer and requires specific training efforts. Therefore, a mixed version will take root: experienced employees can work remotely, and those who have the task to teach new people, and the new employees themselves are useful to be in the office, so they can quickly get involved in the process.

How do you look into the future?

– Sales experience has convinced us that our marketing strategy, effective and stable. It works no matter what is going on outside.

But we are aware that the popularity of the brand is not as great with us as it is with apple. People aren’t running down the street asking where to buy. We have to tell customers what Candy is, what appliances we have, and why they should pay the money we ask for Candy.

Most people already know that Candy is not just washing machines. These are refrigerators, dishwashers and even vacuum cleaners.

Our equipment for people with average income. We are not trying to enter the luxury segment. We make fairly inexpensive and tech-savvy products that sell because of positive user experience.

We are currently in demand in three categories:

1. Everything related to water: washing machines, dryers and dishwashers
2. Refrigerators
3. Candy appliances – ovens, hobs.

Future plans are related to the built-in appliances segment. Sales are growing in our country and in general it’s a growing market.

Candy washers, dryers and dishwashers currently account for 60-65% of sales, with the rest being built-in appliances, refrigerators, microwave ovens and vacuum cleaners.

Is there any fear that in 2021 we will have to deal with the consequences of this year: the demand will fall because of the loss of income, the prices will go up because of the ruble?

– There are certain concerns in terms of consumer demand. After all, the consequences of the pandemic will only be seen next year. I worry that many people will lose their jobs. Income is not growing this year, because few employers can afford to raise their employees’ salaries. The ruble exchange rate has dropped. And it will sooner or later have an impact on prices. There are concerns that the KBT market may be shrinking rather than growing.

But looking at how different companies are responding to the current situation, we have reason to believe that we are very competitive. We’re hoping to redistribute the market, and we’re planning for sales growth relative to 2020. Even if the market declines, we plan to grow. We have points of growth: the expansion of the range of refrigerators, there will also be built-in models, a new line of washing machines, new models of built-in appliances, new dishwashers of own production – there are a lot of points of growth, you need to build a right strategy.

What would you advise to buyers now: to rush with purchases or to wait. Maybe there will be some interesting Candy innovations that will interest a lot of people soon?

– If you plan to buy within half a year it’s better not to put it off, buy it now. There are interesting deals before Christmas, and prices are lower now than they will be in the spring.

When the world economy will start to recover and oil prices will go up, the ruble will strengthen, then the equipment may get cheaper, but it is possible in a longer period than 3-6 months.