Interesting news out of the United States: upmarket brand Cuisinart has partnered with Bevyz to unveil a co-branded drinks appliance that’s half Nespresso and half SodaStream:
A virtual unknown in Australia, Bevyz specialises in single cup serves of both hot and cold beverages. Based out of Malta with an R&D facility in the Netherlands, Bevyz claims to make the only system that converts single-portion capsules into hot, chilled and sparkling beverages, including “clear, fresh water, and delicious coffees, teas, fruit juices and soft drinks”.
Cuisinart is owned globally by Conair and distributed in Australia by Sheldon and Hammond. Ron Diamond, president of Conair, said this partnership of Bevyz’ disruptive technology and Cuisinart very strong brand recognition and equity was sure to gain traction with customers.
“This is an exciting and innovative expansion for Cuisinart in the beverage maker category,” Diamond said.”At-home beverage makers have been consistently gaining in popularity and market share over the past several years, and the introduction of this product represents a significant leap forward in the technology and convenience available in the category. We are proud to bring this to the market and believe it will resonate very strongly with consumers.”
Brett Hyde, brand manager for Cuisinart at Sheldon and Hammond was at the launch of this appliance in Chicago, USA, this week. He told Appliance Retailer that this partnership is specific to the US market and, as such, there is no known availability for this product in the Australian market.
“At the moment the partnership is for North America only but I will be keeping my ear to the ground regarding other global markets,” he said.
Opinion/Analysis
Appliance Retailer understands that it is a similar story to the new KitchenAid Sparkling Beverage Maker, which was unveiled last week with opaque local availability.
It would be a great shame if Australian retailers did not get the opportunity to range and sell these two new innovative appliances in the short-to-medium term, as both offer rare innovation, style and premiumness. In a world awash with me-too small appliances, these new high-end brand-name developments in the booming drink dispenser category, represent that all-to-rare attribute in today’s market: uniqueness.
This author is on Twitter: @Patrickavenell