Premium appliance maker Miele Canada Limited is looking to improve its interactions with consumers and retailers with its Miele Chartered Agent system (MCA).
Miele will now deal directly with consumers, from payment and delivery, to installation and service—responsibilities previously handled by retail partners like The Brick Superstores, Caplan’s Appliances and Quebec-based Corbeil Appliances. Those retailers will become “authorized Miele Chartered Agents,” under the new strategy.
Retailers will continue to display the Miele products but will now process sales orders through the manufacturer’s web-based system. From there, Miele will contact the customer within 24 hours to confirm purchase, answer questions, and arrange for delivery and installation.
Every appliance will be delivered using Miele-branded trucks and will be installed by a Miele service team. In addition, the manufacturer has opened a national Toronto-based contact centre equipped with bilingual agents to address customer inquiries seven days a week.
Retailers will no longer have to worry about inventory and product supply; Miele has also opened three new warehouses in Vancouver, Calgary and Montreal.
Over the next year and a half, Miele hopes to have branded boutiques within its retail partners’ locations to offer consumers a consistent experience that will group all of the Miele products together, said Kelly Lam, director of marketing, Miele Canada Limited.
It’s about delivering a “much more consistent experience to consumers,” he said. “Because we assume a lot more responsibility now in conjunction with our agents, with regards to the consumer, we actually know who the consumer is.”
To support the launch, Miele is now offering 10-year manufacturer’s warranties on Miele washing machines and five-year warranties on all Miele kitchen appliances until Dec. 31. Miele is supporting the warranty promotion with full-page and banner print ads, developed by Lowe Roche, in the Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail, Calgary Herald, Vancouver Sun and Montreal Gazette.
Point-of-sale flyers and a “Miele Difference” section on Miele.ca outline the program’s benefits. Miele will launch another campaign supporting the MCA system later this fall. Wills and Co. handled the media buy.
