HAIER KITCHEN SDA

STRATEGY . RESEARCH . CONSUMER INSIGHTS . PROJECT MANAGEMENT

A NEW RANGE OF SMALL KITCHEN APPLIANCES THAT PUTS THE CUSTOMER FIRST

Following several successful collaborations between Smallfry and Haier’s floorcare brand, Hoover, Haier Europe approached Smallfry to coordinate the early stage development of a new range of Small Domestic Appliances (SDAs) for the kitchen.

Haier chose to adopt a co-creation approach for the project, which was a collaborative partnership between Smallfry, Milan-based Poli Design, IED, and Haier’s Milan Experience Design (MED) team. Each partner brought valuable insights from both academia and industry, working together to develop a cohesive new SDA product range aimed at European consumers.

Smallfry’s role was to coordinate co-creation and offer user-centred design expertise to ensure that all multidisciplinary teams remained focused on prioritising the needs of real customers, delivered solutions that added value, and remained true to Haier’s user-centred philosophy, “Zero Distance to the Customer”.

Ultimately, this assisted Haier to launch a successful range of kitchen SDA products and break into a new category. Credit to Haier Europe and MED for the design of this product range.

SMALLFRY’S USER CENTRED APPROACH

Understanding what consumers actually want is challenging. Everyone has an opinion but there can only be one that is right every time… your customers’. Unfortunately, uncovering the correct insight requires nuance. It is not as simple as gathering a group of people, asking questions, and then designing what they tell you. If it were that easy, every product launch would be a success.

Smallfry’s strategists and researchers, with backgrounds in both design and psychology, provided project management support and completed consumer focus groups and 32 interviews across 4 different countries. Our approach enabled us to cut through the noise and quickly extract the key insights. These insights were then used to unite the teams behind a clear user-centred vision.

View our consumer insights services >

CO-CREATION WORKSHOPS

Smallfry facilitated a series of co-creation workshops in Milan, in collaboration with IED and Poli Design. The sessions brought together design students, Haier professionals, and food industry experts to explore fresh ideas for kitchen appliances.

Through interactive activities and ideation exercises, the workshops encouraged stakeholders to analyse consumer challenges, evolving lifestyles, and shifting eating habits. By aligning these insights with emerging technologies, Smallfry ensured that the proposed solutions added real value and consumer insights remained central to the product development process.

BENEFITS OF CHOOSING SMALLFRY

Haier chose Smallfry to coordinate the Kitchen SDA project due to our previous successful work with Haier’s floorcare brand, Hoover, where we designed their latest award winning, 5-star rated vacuum cleaner and supporting cleaning tools.

Our multidisciplinary team combines consumer insights with market research to formulate precise design strategies and develop products aligned to user needs and market trends. This approach ensures successful market entry with maximum business impact.