Jennair Signs Sears. Are Independents Kicked to Curb?
Submitted by advisor on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 7:21pm.
Introduced just 6 months ago at KBIS, the new strategy of withdrawing Jennair from all Big Box's and reserving the brand for independent dealers can now be officially declared dead. Whirlpool signed an agreement making Sears the only national retailer of Jennair. Under the agreement Sears will display 17 Jennair products in 225 of Sears's largest stores by November 15. Jennair will no longer supply Home Depot and Lowes effective January 1. Sears will send 255 sales associates to Atlanta for product training. Sears is said to be considering changing its commission structure to reward the additional work and knowledge that high end appliance sales requires.
What of the independent dealer? Have there been dealers which have invested in Jennair recently under the belief that no Big Box would be in the mix?
LOOKING FOR FEEDBACK FROM OUR READERS HERE.
Sears was in it all along.....
We have been a JennAir dealer for many years and were approached with the new strategy JennAir was bringing to the table. Near the beginning of that discussion and long before any papers were signed we were informed that there was a strong possibility that Sears would be carrying the brand. Obviously I have some strong reservations regarding how that may effect our marketing. It seems Sears can't sell anything without making it 20% off. They (and Home Depot, Lowes, ect.) don't mind violating MAP pricing and daring the manufacturer's to do anything about it. That said, with the restrictions in place that do not allow any pricing or sales via the internet means Sears will need to come up with a new business model to market the stuff. In addition to that, will their installation team have the experience necessary to install a 48" built in refrigerator, 48" range, 48" hood or a downdraft cooktop? One would have to guess that there is more to the deal than JennAir - a deal involving more Whirlpool production of Kenmore products, but that is only a guess. In the meantime we do what we do as an independent and embrace the extra advertising that Sears will provide.
Jennair continued
That sounds like a reasonable list of the positives and negatives of being on the same team as Sears.
Where is Jennair priced against Viking and Wolf, and even better, GE Monogram? Perhaps comparing two product lines with the same features.
Whirlpool claimed at KBIS to be building the Jennair pro-product, replacing DCS. Do we know that to be true?
Price points
JennAir is coming in at or slightly under Monogram pricing. They did well at getting the word out that they were "targetting" Sub/Wolf & Viking which led many to believe they were going to make the same mistake as they did with the first built in JennAir refrigerator and price themselves out of the market. They are not. They are priced to sell when you look at the features and styling they bring to the table. And yes, The JennAir/KitchenAid pro ranges/rangetops are no longer being DCS produced (you can see the new KitchenAid on their website, JennAirs site still shows the old DCS range but the new rangetop). One more blow to DCS.
Wrong...
Actually DCS IS still making some of the Jenn-Air product...I got their new pro range delivered to my warehouse less than an hour ago and underneath the Jenn-Air sticker on the outside of the box is still the same old DCS sticker...
If you can read...
SteadySelling does mention that the old DCS units are still on the Jenn-air website and that is until their new pro ranges are ready which will be built in house. So yes the current pro ranges are the same...you are correct...but SteadySelling wasn't wrong.
JennAir Range Update
I would suggest checking the manufacturing date on the range you just unboxed. It is absoluty going to be a DCS piece because you cannot order the new JennAir yet. That said, take a look at your price sheets for January 2010 and you will see the new model numbers and prices for the non DCS pieces. If you google the model number you will find a link to inside advantage (Whirlpool's site) that shows artistic renderings of the new range. If you want to get a good color glimps of what they look like just go to KitchenAid's website and see their new pro range. The JennAir is similiar but will have stainless steel knobs and the touch screen control will be between the knobs instead of on top of the bull nose. Not sure why the KitchenAid is available to ship now but the JennAir is held up until next year. Possibly to give them time to dump old models off on dealers who did not do their research. Sorry you got stuck with the old one.......
Say What ???
Traditionally SEARS, with their convoluted idea of what a rebate is, has not done well with any other demographic than the middle-incomed who shop @ SEARS because their parents did when SEARS was a very different company than what Eddie Lambert has created today !!!
I thought JENN-AIRE was supposed to be higher end ... almost parallel to K/A ... it didn't make sense to me then, and this move makes even less !!!
Why would JENN-AIRE put their product in the hands of a part-time sales force unable to sell their product to the exclusion of Independent Dealers who essentially do this for a living and are infinitely more qualified ???
Curious decision indeed !!!
Might not be completely idiotic
The new Jennair is targeted above KitchenAid, above Monogram, at Viking and Wolf, at a deep discount to those brands.
Any salesguys getting the training are going to need to be industry veterans.
Does it make sense? Displays in 225 prime locations is good, keeping any other brand out, like some future LG luxury brand, is good.
Could there be more in the deal than meets the eye? Maybe additional Kenmore protection for Whirlpool, or some additional business? Certainly all sides have made big committments to promotion and advertising. Sears will increase traffic. Whirlpool positions Jennair to be seen by more eyeballs than GE Monogram. It might be worth trying. Question is if any independents have been handed the short end.
Ya got THAT right !!!
"Any salesguys getting the training are going to need to be industry veterans."
Advisor, you certainly got THAT right ... so I think that the REAL challenge ... for the Independence Dealers of the Appliance Industry to sell ourselves against the part-time, corporate drive, flunkies from SEARS !!!
I've already alluded to their faux rebate program but no one picked up on it, well, what about the guys delivering stuff ??? Have you ever seen them ???
Locally, our SEARS store blocked up ALL their windows years ago, so I like to tell people that you buy from someone who has a window you can thru it thru !!!
Makes a great visual point!!!