Companies

Hotpoint targets more middle class shoppers with Westgate store

hotpoint

Hotpoint Appliances shop at the Village Market in Nairobi. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Domestic equipment retailer, Hotpoint Appliances, has opened its sixth showroom at Westgate Shopping Mall in Westlands, Nairobi, joining international firms eyeing the local middle-class market for home products.

The firm that American and European investors jointly own becomes the third global brand for domestic appliances to open a new store in the suburb since March last year.

Germany-based Bosch Home Appliances opened its first exclusive showroom in the neighbouring Oval House in August bringing its products closer home to the middle-class shoppers.

Kohler of America and one of the world’s leading manufacturers of kitchen and bathroom fittings also opened its first Kenyan outlet at the Ukay shopping complex in March last year.

The company makes luxury products such as faucets, sinks, toilets and digital shower systems that cost at least Sh1.2 million.

Nairobi has the highest number of middle class shoppers in the country and the increase in disposable income has attracted the world’s leading manufacturers of domestic appliances. Hotpoint’s five other outlets are located in Garden City Mall on Thika Road, Village Market, Sarit Centre, Likoni and Nyali Centre both in the coastal city of Mombasa.

“The mall reaches a well-defined and attractive demographic audience. We want to expand across Nairobi and we are looking at the premium customers, especially in shopping malls,” said Hotpoint director Keval Kanani on Thursday.

He said the outlet, which covers 3,600 square feet is set to boost its sales from the other five outlets that offer offline and online shopping services.

Hotpoint did not, however, disclose the cost of the new retail store that will also see customers get electronic products by its partners LG, Samsung and Bosch Appliances.

Mr Kanani added that the firm expects to further drive sales at its latest outlet when the main anchor tenant at Westgate Mall, Shoprite of South Africa opens by the end of the year.

The Institute of Economic Affairs Kenya estimates that at least 30 per cent of the country’s middle-class lives in Nairobi.