Resounding success for RKW following Ambiente & Spring Fair 2023 trade shows

Staffordshire based SDA and housewares giant RKW experienced a busy start to February, exhibiting at Ambiente 2023 in Frankfurt am Main, and at Spring Fair 2023 at the Birmingham NEC.

There was a huge sense of excitement in the air for both trade shows, and once again the crowds were out in full force to browse the myriad of products RKW had on display. With own-brands, licenced, and distributor brands present on the RKW stands, including Tower, Barbary & Oak, Black + Decker, Hubble, Carmen, Warmlite, Swan, Lavazza, Smeg, Russell Hobbs, View Quest, AKAI, ITEK, and Numatic.

Rob Sutton, Managing Director at RKW, was in attendance at both trade shows. He was thrilled with the response to both exhibits, having said ‘once again both Ambiente and Spring Fair have been a rousing success. The turnout has been fantastic, seeing many customers both current and new. RKW always have a great experience at both Ambiente and Spring Fair and 2023 has been no different. Our sales team have worked tirelessly from start to finish to make the shows a success and I feel we have achieved that’.

AMBIENTE AND SPRING FAIR 2023         

The Ambiente 2023 trade show was very successful, with customers eager to see what RKW had to offer through their best-selling Tower and Barbary & Oak own brands. With many people flocking to the exhibition between the 3rd and 7th February, it proved to be another fruitful event for RKW.

Spring Fair began shortly after, taking place between the 5th and 8th February, with a variety of visitors in attendance over the course of the event. Trade customers visited the RKW stands to see every product range on offer, such as the best-selling Tower Vortx and Vizion air frying range, the Tower VL Series floorcare range and the Tower SmartStart™ cookware range.

TOWER AIR FRYERS

The latest additions to the Tower air frying range were present at both trade shows, including Vizion, Vortx, Steam, and Dual Basket variations. With a strong focus on energy-saving messages and cooking convenience, Tower air fryers have become the SDA of choice for many households amongst the continued cost of living crisis.

Trade customers visiting the RKW stands said “the energy-saving messages displayed around Tower air fryers have been phenomenal, elevating the current demand we are seeing from our own customers. It’s great to catch up with RKW at events such as Spring Fair, to really visualise the variety of products they have on offer”.

Two of the Tower air fryers on display were the Tower T17099 Vortx Eco Duo Basket air fryer with one 3.3L basket and a larger 5.2L basket, and the Tower T17102 Vizion Dual Basket air fryer with two 5.5.L baskets. This air fryer combines Dual Basket technology with Vizion, so end-users can see the progress of their food without opening the air fryer doors, saving time and energy.

TOWER COOKWARE

Taking pride of place at Ambiente and Spring Fair was Tower’s latest innovation, SmartStart™ cookware. Products feature a temperature sensor which changes from a bright red to a deep red colour at the optimum cooking temperature of 200°C. Each product has up to six layers of Tower’s own Aeroglide™ coatings, which are 15x stronger than other non-stick coatings.

Attendees were intrigued to see the SmartStart™ frying pans in person at the trade shows, including the Classic, Gourmet, Forged, and Ultra-Forged variants.

Each product range is available for customers in a 24cm, 28cm, 30cm, and 32cm size, whilst the Ultra-Forged showcases Tower’s Inducto™ induction compatible base, heating up to 25% faster than standard induction bases, providing excellent energy-saving benefits.

Customers were quoted having said “Tower cookware is already a hit in the UK marketplace, and we’re looking forward to working with RKW to take advantage of the new SmartStart™ range, passing its benefits to consumers”.

TOWER FLOORCARE

New products were on display from the Tower VL Series floorcare collection. Designed to take the hard work out of cleaning for end-users, trade consumers were thrilled to see such high quality products at such affordable prices.

The top of the range VL100 Optimum stood out to customers visiting the RKW stands, complete with the stylish touch screen LED display, with auto dust detection. The VL100 Optimum auto switches off charging after completion to conserve battery health, which was a popular feature amongst customers. According to show attendees “the VL100 really stood out on the RKW stand as a premium floorcare offering. I can see it having a stylish and functional impact in a customer’s home”.

Overall, customers were spoilt for choice, with a range of 3-in-1 Tower vacuum cleaners for handheld and cordless cleaning, as well as using the extendable pole function. For the more traditional end-user, customers could also invest in the corded variations within the Tower VL Series, such as the VL20. 

TOWER COLLECTIONS

Tower’s kitchenware collections always prove popular, with customers gathering in earnest to see the latest additions to the Cavaletto & Solitaire collections. Once again tapping into popular trends, trade customers were treated to Tower’s new Latte Cavaletto colourway. The smooth colours complement any colour palette with a range of kettles, toasters, breadbins & storage canisters available.

The Tower Solitaire collection certainly drew an audience, with modern gloss 3D patterned body finishes offering customers and end-users a luxury feel alongside some of the latest on trend designs. Available in a range of colourways, such as black, white, grey, and latte, customers were left impressed with the variety on offer.

BARBARY & OAK

The best-selling Barbary & Oak Foundry collection was present at Ambiente and Spring Fair 2023, alongside new colourways Verdigris Green, and Camembert Cream. These joined firm favourites Bordeaux Red and Limoges Blue. Excitement was also felt for the different variations of available mugs, such as Totem, Relic, Abyss, Reef and Fossil collections, which generated intrigue for customers as they browsed the stands.

Customers said “RKW products always remain very in-tune with industry trends, and Barbary & Oak is no exception. The Ambiente stand wasn’t quiet once, there was a real buzz from people browsing the aspirational housewares range”.

Aside from the above, consumers were thrilled to see some of RKW’s licensed and distributed brands on the stands, with the likes of Black + Decker, Lavazza, Hubble, Smeg and Russell Hobbs proving to popular for Spring Fair attendees. All in all, it was a period of thoroughly successful trade shows.

RKW would like to thank all customers, suppliers, and brand partners who visited their stands at either Ambiente or Spring Fair. Thanks are also extended to both Ambiente and Spring Fair for hosting the events, the team look forward to the opportunity to work with and exhibit at both trade shows again in the future.

If you were at Ambiente or Spring Fair and would like to get in touch with the RKW team, please contact your account manager, or instead email sales@rkwltd.com.

Ends

Editors notes

RKW is the trading division of Sutton Venture Group established in 1989. The family business employs over 500 staff through its offices in the UK, Hong Kong, India and China. The company designs, manufactures and distributes small domestic appliances and housewares for its owned and licenced brands which include Black and Decker, Morphy Richards, Tower, along with distributing leading brands such as Breville, Lavazza, Smeg, Russell Hobbs and Swan.