Beko, a manufacturer of household appliances of Turkish origin, faces a new stage in Europe with the union with the American Whirlpool. With it, it intends to increase its footprint and grow in Spain, a market in which it sees great progress. The change comes in the midst of less activity in the sector, which is expected to emerge by innovating with refrigerators or washing machines that consume less and less and intelligent equipment.
After closing the agreement in January 2023, the new structure began at the beginning of the month. Together with the American Whirlpool, Beko Europe has been created, a company where their European businesses come together. Beko Global owns 75%, while the remaining 25% remains in the hands of Whirlpool US. Together they have 20,000 employees and eleven plants, located in Italy, Poland, Slovakia, the United Kingdom and Romania. Combined revenues are around 5.5 billion. “Scale is important in our industry,” explains Hakan Bulgurlu, CEO of Beko. The union has also brought changes at the top: Arçelik, the Turkish parent company, is renamed Beko. Under its umbrella there are 45 factories spread throughout the planet, with 55,000 employees. Its sales would reach around 11,000 million euros.
The local subsidiary, Beko Spain, is part of Beko Europe. The group has a 13.5% market share in units and 11.5% in value, it is stated. “The opportunity to grow is greater in Spain. Now we are starting to do it,” says Ragip Balcioglu, CEO of Beko Europe. It has a turnover of around 150 million euros, a figure that has remained stable over the years. The mirror may be in the United Kingdom or Romania, where it is the leader. The local market is going through its difficulties. Since October, a change in trend has been observed, downwards, with the replenishment due to covid already exhausted and with people more focused on spending on leisure and travel. The first quarter has been “complicated,” company sources say. Hope now lies in the summer campaign, with air conditioning as the star, in which “we are more positive.”
After the pandemic, when people started to renew equipment, “most markets have shrunk or stagnated,” says Bulgurlu. It also impacts geopolitics or climate change. A polycrisis. “It will be a difficult year for the industry, flat. We expect the market to grow again towards the end of the year.” The idea is to maintain what has been achieved: to be the largest white goods manufacturer in terms of volume. Asian competition is another of the main challenges, even so, with lower labor costs per banner. The managers point out that it is “very difficult to compete with the high European labor cost.” “We are profitable and we always have been,” he says in any case. To continue like this you have to work.
On a continental scale, the union with Whirlpool has left a giant with dozens of factories, hundreds of references and thousands of employees. The managers give themselves six months to put the structure in order. There are up to 16 brands, including Beko and Whirlpool, Grundig, Indesit, Arctic and Hotpoint. “It will sell one in five household appliances in Europe. It's a big company. We will have to make adjustments to give the business the appropriate size, sharpen it,” warns the main manager. There will be new investments, but closures of factories with lower capacity are not ruled out. The company does not have plants in Spain: the product comes from factories in Türkiye and Romania. Beko does have offices and a showroom in Barcelona, with 50 employees focused on commercial matters, while Whirlpool has a headquarters in Badalona. “They are two great teams. We don’t expect any major disruption,” says Balcioglu.
Spain is asking to promote Renove plans to leave behind the mentality of buying only when something breaks and to do so for the savings on the bill that is achieved with efficiency. Beko's bet is on the price, to “democratize technology.” “We want to be leaders in innovation and product,” says Balcioglu. Playing the I D card. The company took advantage of the Eurocucina show, a couple of weeks ago in Milan, to present its latest developments. The priorities are clear: savings and sustainability. Like a washing machine that saves 50% over a class A, with shorter cycles and that captures microfibers; a refrigerator that consumes 10% less than an A-, made with 50% bioplastics, or an oven that detects the dish and programs the best cooking.
