CIO 100: Fisher and Paykel Appliances

FISHER PAYKEL Appliances says customer led innovation and leading through design are among its strategies to stay ahead in the market.

These are achieved through ongoing collaboration between their design engineers and a design team that puts people back at the centre.

Daniel Witten-Hannah, VP product development, explains on the company website the key elements of its approach to design and innovation: “Innovation comes from curiosity. By understanding our customers – the way people use kitchens and appliances, how they cook and eat – we have discovered insights that have made us rethink how to design appliances.

“We have to be different and the only way we’re really going to be different is by understanding the customer better and getting those insights of the points of difference that drive that.” The company’s website has been recently undergoing lot of innovation to ensure ease of navigation, as well as get the message across of its goal to become a leading premium appliance company.

Among the new pages added to the company’s website is Social Kitchen, which Fisher Paykel says is “an ongoing experience to connect people with food and design and start rethinking the kitchen”.

Active in social media, especially on Facebook wherein the appliance company has more than 100,000 followers, Fisher Paykel both engages with customers and updates its database by offering a free kitchen design guide and e-cookbook for those who sign up.

Fisher Paykel has also launched internationally its experience centres, wherein customers can access a 360° interactive virtual tour of its showrooms in Canada, China, Hong Kong, India, Thailand, and Vietnam.