Using intelligence to drive success at retail 

How Haier Portugal has maximized sales intelligence to grow brand awareness and market share to become one of the top-ranked players in the sector today. 

“GfK’s weekly Market Intelligence really has made a real difference in our business. By knowing exactly how we are performing at retail, where we are gaining or losing share, which products are the most popular and which promotions have genuine consumer appeal, we can adjust and improve our tactics and strategy. This intelligence has helped us to grow, maintain and protect market share. Crucially, we’ve used it to manage our relationships with retailers. The insights have helped us to be responsive and agile in a competitive market, and as a result, we’ve seen our retail performance improve month-on-month. We wouldn’t want to be without it!” – Joao Paulo Ferreira, Country Manager Portugal for Haier 

Tracking the retail market to grow market share 

When well-established white goods brand Candy launched Haier in the Portuguese market, it was hoping to see a turning point that would lead the company on a path back to growth. However, to achieve this much anticipated expansion, the team needed reliable and accurate market intelligence report on their sales performance, particularly with the retailer Worten who account for a huge chunk of sales in the sector. So Haier turned to GfK to help assess, evaluate and benchmark their retail performance.  

Supporting fact-based decision making 

Haier operates in an extremely competitive sector, where winning share demands a detailed, up-to-the-minute understanding of the market and of consumers. Using GfK’s market intelligence has empowered the brand team to negotiate with retailer Worten and others from a position of knowledge, ensuring that the right products are on sale for the right price and promotions to the right audience.  

Perfecting price and promotion to attract shoppers 

Physical retail is still dominant in Portugal, and promotions have a key part to play both in getting shoppers into particular stores, and then in helping them choose the right product when in-store. Using GfK’s data has helped the team at Haier to ensure their offers are relevant and appealing to consumers, encouraging them to choose their brand and products rather than others.   

2021 – a winning year for Haier 

In this fiercely competitive environment, Haier enjoyed exceptional sales performance, as the highest-ranked brand in terms of market share growth in 2021. In the same year, sister brand Candy delivered the largest increase in market share in the washing machine segment. As a Group, the two brands added almost 3% of market share in the same year, equating to 4 million Euros in additional revenue.  

Joao Paulo Ferreira, Country Manager Portugal for Haier explains the importance of GfK’s market intelligence in this success: “There’s no question that our understanding of what’s happening at retail has improved significantly since we started using retail intelligence from GfK. By closely monitoring our performance, and that our of competitors, our team can react and respond rapidly to changes in both market forces and consumer behavior. We need that information now more than ever. I believe it really does give us the edge.” 

A special relationship 

Haier Portugal and GfK have developed a close working relationship in a relatively short space of time. With regular contact and a reliance on the intelligence GfK provides, this has become a very good partnership in a little over three years. 

If you would like to see how your brand could benefit with a partnership with GfK, please contact Miguel.Faias for more information.