Case Study: Thermador Revitalization
Background:
I had just been promoted to Head of Design of Bosch and Thermador Home Appliances during the height of the Global Recession and housing crisis in the US in 2010.
Bosch and Thermador Design Team: 2010
2009 and 2010 were some of the worst year for home building and home remodeling in the US. As an appliance company our business was directly linked to the housing market.
The Mission
Our luxury brand Thermador accounted for a 100 million dollars in revenue and 15% of our business. Our CEO was deciding whether or not to cancel that business in order to focus our resources on our Bosch brand. Myself and our VP of Sales, Zach Elkin, were given 18 months to turn-around the Thermador brand.
Bosch Brand: 85% of Revenue
Thermador Brand: 15% of Revenue
My Role
Develop a strategy for new product development to make the most of limited resources and define new target consumers for our product.
Our Key Insight was to go after Luxury Kitchen Designers as influencers in addition to end-consumers. We established a panel of Kitchen Designers that acted as advisory board for trends in the home and new products.
Thermador Kitchen Design Council
Thermador Kitchen Design Council
Product Strategy
In order to speed up time to market and optimize resources I used a mix of product development strategies to add key pieces such as Built-In Coffee Machines and Insert Ventilation sourced from our European factories and OEM manufacturers.
We did ground up development of Flagship products including our Professional Ranges and Built-In Refrigeration.
Source from our European factories
Source from external OEM companies
New Development of Flagship Products
The Results
10 new product families and over 300 new SKU's launched in 18 months
Increased revenue of the Thermador from 115 million 2010 to 400 million by 2014
Solidified Thermador as a brand of choice for Kitchen Designers, Home Builders, and Architects
