Thursday, June 14, 2007

Free marketing advice for Dualit

I was looking to buy a Dualit toaster earlier this week. Seems simple enough, once you have made up your mind on the number of slots, right?

On their website (which is not well referenced by Google: advice #1, spend some time on Google Sitemaps) they list the four slots at £152.95 in colours and £177.13 in polished steel. As this is a tad steep, I checked on eBay and found a good range of of new specimens under £130 and used under £50. Unfortunately they have only the hideous glacier blue and none of the eBay shops carries the metallic blue.

Not being selfish, I remembered by better half wanted a new kettle. So I wrote to Dualit to know whether they also did kettles in either Lavender or Metallic hues. Nope. So, you'll find advice #2 below: why on Earth don't they make it easy to buy two of their products in matching colours?

And you'll see advice #3: team up with other iconic brands, because frankly Marmite isn't going to cut it...

Finally, here's advice #4: the Dualit web site doesn't work well with Firefox: that's advice #2, ensure wide browser compatibility. Maybe hire specialist consultants or use open source software.


Hi,

Take this as a suggestion for improvement then: it's always nice to be able to match coloured items in one's kitchen.

Another suggestion: why don't you team up with Kitchen Aid to sell a set in metallic blue of your products and their famous mixer? You could announce it on July the 4th?

Or do the toaster in the same coulours as the Francis Francis X1 -it is equally iconic and a yellow dualit would look really nice besides mine.
http://www.coffeegeek.com/proreviews/firstlook/francisfrancisx1

Seems to me a better commercial idea than corkscrews....

Regards,


Ludovic.


Dualit Enquiry Response wrote:
Dear Ludovic,
Thank you for your email enquiry. Unfortunately, we do not manufacture a Kettle is Metallic or Lavender Blue. However, we do have the Jug Kettle available in Glacier Blue.
Best Regards

Dualit Limited
County Oak Way
Crawley
West Sussex
RH11 7ST
info@dualit.com
Tel: +(44) (0) 1293 652500
Fax: +(44) (0) 1293 652555

This email and any attachments are confidential. They may contain privileged information and are intended for the named addressee(s) only. They must not be distributed without our consent. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify us immediately and do not disclose, distribute, or retain this email or any part of it. Unless expressly stated, opinions in this email are those of the individual sender and not of Dualit Ltd. We believe but do not warrant that this e-mail and any attachments are virus free. You must therefore take full responsibility for virus checking. Dualit Ltd reserve the right to monitor all email communications through their networks.



From: Ludovic
Sent: 12 June 2007 13:37
To: Dualit Enquiry Response
Subject: Matching kettle for blue toaster

Hi,

Do you make kettles in metallic blue or lavender blue to match your toasters?

Regards,

Ludovic

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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

you were lucky to get a response.


I live in Perth, Western Australia and recently purchased a Dualit SOFT TOUCH HANDMIXER IN RED online from the United States; unfortunately the motor blew as soon as it was plugged in. This was my fault as we have 240v in Australia not 120v as they do in the U.S.A.



I assumed the mixer would have a fuse and may be repairable. No. Not in Perth or in Western Australia. So, I rang Sydney.

Dualit's distributor and service agent tells me that they have not been able to figure out how to get into your mixer, let alone, if it has a fuse and that it was made in China.



I am left with the conclusion that I have paid more than twice the price for a product that I bought due to the reputation of the brand and have ended up with a cheap, disposable product that was made in China.



This maybe clever & profitable marketing, however in these days of climate change and concern over greenhouse emissions merely shows Dualit to be a corrupt corporate citizen. Whoever was responsible for the final decsion to market this product should be held accountable.



If I am incorrect in my assumptions and your hand held mixer can be opened and serviced, please tell me and your Australian representatives how.




Yours in anticipation,

five days have passed since sending this email with no response from dualit!!!

Mike Lotyczuk

18 Rankin Rd

Shenton Park

WA 6008

Australia