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Article: Bread winners: toaster makers view technology and design as the keys to boosting sales.(housewares)
- Article from:
- HFN The Weekly Newspaper for the Home Furnishing Network
- Article date:
- February 2, 2009
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2009 MacFadden Communications Group LLC. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
MANUFACTURERS OF TOASTERS, ONE OF THE SIGNATURE commodity categories in kitchen electrics, are injecting some excitement into their products.
Last year, the category behaved like a commodity in the business sense, with sales in both dollars and units relatively flat as compared with 2007, according to April Strogen, product manager of kitchen electrics at De'Longhi USA.
"Toasters remain a staple in most kitchens, but the replacement rate is not very high, which could be a reason why category growth has slowed," Strogen said. "The category has also lacked in innovative features, which help to boost the replacement rate."