Glen Dimplex Home Appliances has become the exclusive UK partner of GE appliances. GDHA added the GE brand to its existing cooking and cooling brand portfolio of Stoves, Belling, New World and Lec. GE is one of the biggest companies in the world. Its consumer appliance division, worth in excess of $6bn, has a major share of the US appliance market. The brand however has struggled to consistently deliver growth in the UK.
The GE division is led by Lec commercial director, David Garden, whose team has been credited with the revival of fortunes of the Lec brand since its acquisition in 2005.
David Garden explained to IER why the partnership is set to be mutually beneficial. “GE now has a reputable and reliable UK partner with the knowledge, experience and, most importantly, the existing customer base to make the brand a success in the UK. GE will also benefit from the strong after sales and operational support that GDHA understands is necessary to support a brand as strong as GE. For GDHA, it gives us incremental business in a sector in which we don’t currently operate. It allows us to draw on our customer and consumer knowledge in order to drive the GE brand into independent retailers where it may not have been previously visible.”
He also described GDHA plans for GE: “We have launched the new range of American refrigerators in the GE and GE Profile brands, as well as the luxurious GE Monogram suite of appliances, and our initial objective is to drive distribution of these brands through displays in key independent retailers. This will be on a fairly selective basis as we want our retail partners to have the opportunity to sell the features and benefits of these products within their geographical location. Product-wise, we are also introducing a brand new range of 1m tall 10kg GE branded washing machines as we see a great opportunity in the UK market for a premium laundry product with the recognised American brand behind it.”
