Via Financial Time: A North American vacuum cleaner maker is aiming to suck up business from Dyson on the British brand’s home turf as it boldly bids to become the leader in the sector.
Privately owned domestic appliances manufacturer SharkNinja wants to double its European sales to £500m over the next three years on the back of a £150m investment in the country.
It is ploughing funds into a research and development centre in London, where it will employ about 100 engineers by the end of the year, as well as advertising and marketing campaigns.
European president Matt Broadway said that SharkNinja’s sales in the region, which are mostly in Britain, had doubled over the past year and that it “fully intend[s] to become UK market leader” in floorcare.
“We have a huge amount of respect for Dyson. What they’ve done and continue to do. We think we’ve got innovations that are starting to really outperform Dyson products both in cordless and corded as well.
“They’ve been the market leader for a great time [and] created a lot of these categories and we’re very happy to be the challenger brand hot on their heels,” added Mr Broadway, a former Dyson employee.
Yet muscling in on an area that has been the bedrock of Dyson’s success over the past two decades will be no mean feat.
Although SharkNinja says its share of the UK vacuum market has risen sharply in recent months, its retail sales were just 2 per cent of the total last year, according to data provider Euromonitor, putting it outside the top 10 brands.
Dyson controlled more than one-fifth of the market, while other favourites among British consumers are Hoover, Samsung, Electrolux and Miele.
Globally, it also trails Dyson with market share of 3 per cent, ranking it the ninth biggest supplier in the $15.4bn industry, against Dyson in third place with a 7 per cent share, says Euromonitor.
Its vacuum cleaners are sold under the Shark logo, with kitchen appliances such as food processors, coffee makers and pressure cookers under the Ninja banner.
The company hopes to emulate its achievement in the US, where it claims to be the number one upright vacuum brand, having gone from a 1 per cent market share in 2010 to 35 per cent last year.
“We want to expand and increase our sales not only in the UK but in mainland Europe and throughout Asia,” said founder and chief executive Mark Rosenzweig, who remains a “significant” shareholder in the company after a stake was sold to private equity group CDH Investments last year.
The company turned over $1.5bn in 2017. It employs 1,700 people worldwide and, like Dyson, manufactures its goods in Asia.
Outside electrical goods stores, SharkNinja has gone head to head in the courtroom with Dyson, which also sells fans, lighting and is developing an electric car.
Earlier this year, Dyson was awarded $16.4m in damages by a US federal jury in a long-running false advertising lawsuit, centred on claims by SharkNinja in 2014 that one of its upright vacuums was better at cleaning carpets than a rival Dyson machine. SharkNinja has lodged an appeal.
The pair have also tussled over intellectual property. Dyson alleged SharkNinja infringed three of its design patents for stick and hand vacuums, but a court dismissed the case and Dyson subsequently dropped its appeal in July, according to reports.
Dyson said: “The courts have held SharkNinja accountable for intentionally misleading consumers through false advertisement. Dyson’s focus is on relentless research, development and testing to deliver new and better products which improve the lives of our owners.”
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