Clothes dryers
Opportunity: exploit a neglected market niche
In Romania the vast majority of the households do not have a clothes dryer and the retailers seem to have neglected this segment of appliances (I have researched Altex, Domo, Flanco, Mediagalaxy on their online stores and found 1 model on Altex and 1 on Domo).
It would take someone who is willing to increase the awareness throughout the market with arguments like time saving and less work than usual drying.
For now the problem is the lack of space in Romanian homes for a clothes dryer, taking into account people already have a washing machine. That is about to change in the near future as 30k new houses are built in Bucharest alone every year (and I assure you they are not going to be old-fashioned matchboxes).
So you could be the first one on the market…How does that sound?
Written by Alex
November 11th, 2006 at 12:55 am
There aren’t that many clothes dryers in Europe in general. Most of the washing machines in Europe also have a final cycle in which they dry the clothes. It’s not the most comfortable solution but it probably works ok, I don’t remember seeing people drying their clothes on their window ledges. Another problem is that dryers are very energy inefficient and wasteful, so demand in Europe has been much smaller than in the US. I expect Romania to follow the economic trends set by Europe and stay dryer free.
November 17th, 2006 at 9:14 pm
The final cycle of the washing machines is usually the spin cycle which eliminates the dripping water, but leaves clothes wet. I’ve noticed that this cycle leaves the clothes as wrinkled as possible, making it necessary and even harder to iron them (perhaps it’s the case of my particular washer). Some washers are combo such that they also have a drying cycle, if this is the one Adi is mentioning. When you take the clothes out of the tumble dryer, they usually don’t even need ironing, perhaps only touch ups. Now, talking numbers and energy efficiency – I found that the combo washer-dryer (class A) consumes about 4.5 kWh/ a cycle of washing, spinning and drying. A washer (A) that does only washing and spinning consumes 1.9kWh/cycle and a tumble dryer (also class A) about 2.4 kWh. Obviously that another electric item will add to the overall electricity consumption, which is a bad thing, but nowadays as people prize more and more the convenience of different items that simplifies their lives, I believe that there is indeed a large market in Romania for tumble dryers or washer-dryers. However, without ever having one it’s difficult to appreciate its usefulness and it might be a long process until the population becomes familiar with the product. Given that using the iron more often has it’s own energy cost and that you have to deal with drying your clothes in the bathroom or on the heaters in the winter and it can take days to dry a pair of jeans, I am sure people would seriously consider buying one. I would also hope that they become more and more energy efficient and there are ways to be smart when using them. For example, towels don’t need to go in the dryer. I would expect that with proper marketing, demand for this item could go high, in the long term.
November 12th, 2008 at 5:41 am
Look into Electrolux’s new iBasket. It is a wi-fi enabled small unit that resembles a laundry basket yet it also washes & dries your clothes.