Sales are expected to continue to increase over the coming period, and the executive says Gorenje has big plans for Romania. He does not rule a plant in this country.
“Gorenje has plants of its own in Slovenia, Serbia and Czech Republic. The company has and continues to be interested in expanding its assembly lines and infrastructure, and Romania is one of the plausible candidates in case of expansion,” said Damir Drazetic in one of the few interviews for the Romanian media.
The local market has been shaping up as a home appliances manufacturing hub in the last few years, after Arctic has recently announced a new investment and so did Germany’s Kaercher. Other manufacturers with plants in Romania are Philips, Electrolux and De’Longhi.
The Slovenian home appliances manufacturer put Damir Drazetic in charge of the Romanian operations three years ago. The executive had previously worked for companies in other industries, such as sporting goods retail and energy. He was a member of the board of Intersport Croatia for three years and before that had been in charge of the commercial department of OMV.
He replaced Tone Prislan, the executive who had run Gorenje’s Romanian office since its establishment in 2002. Under his supervision, Gorenje’s revenue grew by almost 80% to EUR17 million last year, partly helped by the rebound of the economy and the market. Market research company GfK data show Romanians spend about EUR620 million on small and large home appliances a year. The leading players on the market include Philips, Arctic, Whirlpool and Samsung.
The year 2015 was a year of growth, which helped Gorenje’s sales increase in Romania. Whereas the total market growth stood at 12%, Gorenje’s stood at 30% compared with 2014. Net sales to partners amounted to EUR17 million in 2015, Drazetic said.
Gorenje has import and distribution operations in Romania and had ten employees in 2014, according to the latest data available. The manufacturer has distribution operations in more than 90 countries.
Romania is a country with a huge potential and Gorenje noticed it as early as twenty years ago when it started delivering products via local distributors. Meanwhile it decided to open a representative office to improve efficiency of operations and will eventually take over the entire operational process, Damir Drazetic said.
The things that make the Romanian market different are a preference for gas-fired products, large refrigerators and the existence of a niche of design fans (people who love colorful products) who also love technology.
Gorenje saw growth in Romania along all its product ranges last year, the executive says, and the Slovenian manufacturer has big plans for the country especially for the next five years. The company is concentrating its efforts on all product categories on the market at the moment, and on bringing new products and categories to complement the current supply, so consumers can have a full set of products from the same brand.
The rebound of the real estate market is an opportunity for Gorenje, which wants to work with developers and is training its sales team in this regard. It even added new models and product categories precisely to meet the specific requirements of this segment, Drazetic added.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)