MD's Update - December 2018

Welcome to our “high season” and final issue of Motoreyes for 2018; an exciting and very successful year for the Somfy team.

To recap on 2018, R+T Stuttgart held in Q1 was indeed another huge event on the Industry calendar. Somfy launched several key new products including Sonesse 30 WF RTS 2NM which has been received brilliantly by the market.

The awning and external screen season continued well into May given the incredibly hot 2017-2018 summer. As the year continued the Somfy Expert Retail program in Australia continued to gain momentum with many new Experts appointed across Australia. Welcome to our new Expert Retail partners.   

New Zealand had a strong year in all segments but Somfy Sonesse 30 was a big winner in the IWC (Internal Window Coverings) market. Thank you to our NZ partners for a fantastic 2018.

In the French South Pacific countries, stable sales growth was maintained even with an election for “Independence” in New Caledonia.

Recently we saw a steady start to this year’s high season, September slow but October and November certainly arrived with a vengeance! Both months record trading months for Somfy Oceania! Congratulations to our team and thank you to our valued customers and business partners.

Given unprecedented sales in October and November we did experience supply delays and some stock shortages, for this we apologize and please be assured we will continue to drive our supply chain harder to meet your ongoing needs.  Order communication, DIFOT analysis and stock analysis are at the top of our Operational Excellence agenda as we move into the new year. We remain committed to hold very large stock levels in our Rydalmere warehouse so we can deliver with short lead-times. This means our fabricator partners should not need to carry stock.         

In Sydney the Somfy Electrical Services (SES) business goes from strength to strength with exceptional residential and commercial services sales in 2018. It is likely we will expand this program into Melbourne in early 2020. Particularly with greater success in Somfy “Connected solutions” in Home Automation for residential applications and major project commissioning of large commercial blind control packages, operating Somfy motorized window covering solutions. Our global strategic alliance with Schneider Electric will also play a key part in our future planning for SES.     

Commercially we were involved in many projects in 2018 with key partners – jobs mainly commercial offices, mass residential apartments, aged care and hospitality. Our 2019 pipeline and beyond does indeed look healthy now.   

2019 will see 50^th Anniversary celebrations for Somfy, you will hear more about this in the next issue of Motoreyes; similarly, regarding our plans for 2019 and participation in the 2019 BMAA SuperExpo to be held on the Gold Coast in 2019 – a trade event not to be missed.

Wishing you, your teams and all Somfy valued customers and friends a very Happy Christmas and a safe and prosperous New Year.

See you in 2019!

Best regards

Stephen Eggleton