The Client

De’Longhi Group is a well-known Italian manufacturer of coffee, comfort and selected kitchen and homecare appliances. Founded in 1902, and incorporated in 1950, it has expanded since 2001 through organic growth and acquisitions to serve customers in 33 countries.

The Challenge

In June 2017, De’Longhi Group finalised a partnership with a Swiss-based manufacturer of premium professional espresso machines. De’Longhi Australia then asked an EMBA IBC team to evaluate the opportunities for these machines in Australia and prepare a ‘go-to-market’ plan. For De’Longhi Australia, this was an entirely new B2B market as all of their experience to-date was in the B2C business.

The Solution

The team delivered to De’Longhi Group a full launch plan for the new machines with:

  • A tested and modelled business plan which determined profits, cash flow and sensitivity to assumptions being presented
  • Recommendations as to which retail channels should be prioritised
  • Mock advertisements developed to demonstrate the key selling propositions the team believed would be effective based on trade interviews

To achieve this, the team carried out a live 180-person test to identify the machines’ differentiator, after realising that existing market data was scattered, incomplete and sometimes contradictory.

By organising a three-way blind taste test, the team was able to collect statistically significant results demonstrating that consumers preferred the new machine’s coffee to competitors, including barista-made coffee. The taste test, the first ever conducted on this new machine, was used by De’Longhi Group in a major business pitch for new business before the IBC project had even been completed.

As well as using data from the project in tenders, De’Longhi Group is planning to repeat the taste test in numerous markets to provide local data to support the launch of these new machines in Asia, Pacific and the Americas. Australia is also mooted to become a lead market for these new professional coffee machines because of the IBC project.

A really enjoyable experience, a truly committed group of professionals with whom we have developed constant and fruitful interactions and that have delivered beyond our brief. Some truly innovative ideas and a comprehensive business formula.

- Paolo Albertoni, CEO De’Longhi Group for Australia and New Zealand

 A quality vehicle to approach a subject with external eyes to achieve internal vision. Highly recommended to all but our competitors.

- Tom Mitchell, Business Development Director at De’Longhi Group for Asia, Pacific and the Americas