Helping consumers live in a clean, fresh, relaxing home, with ease. That’s what Wellbeing is all about, says Sherine Garrana, head of this CX Area.
“It’s about creating solutions that make it easy and pleasurable for our consumers to maintain a healthy home,” Sherine says. “When we do that, we help them make sustainable choices too.”
Wellbeing in the home is increasingly important as a result of the pandemic. Consumers are looking for simple solutions for air quality, comfort, hygiene and relaxation. We can help provide those solutions, especially with the consumer-centric, holistic approach that Sherine knows well from her time leading Ownership Solutions teams in APAC & MEA.
For consumers to get the best out of a vacuum cleaner or air purifier, we must also provide easy access to bags and filters. Digital solutions can enable consumers to subscribe to receive new ones at the right time or prompt them to change them.
Building and maintaining that relationship with consumers can help us on the road to sustainability, as well, Sherine says. Wellbeing ensures that our sustainable strategy is present in terms of materials, performance, recyclability, repair, and consumer use habits. “We want to help consumers get the most out of the product, for as long as possible. Then if it breaks down, if we can make sure we repair it to extend its life, and then ensure consumers can recycle it, then you’re looking at a whole ownership life cycle and circularity,” she says.
Electrolux has already taken great strides toward circularity in Wellbeing, namely with the 2-Infinity prototype vacuum cleaner, which is 90% recyclable. The project, with Stena Recycling, follows the 2020 unveiling of a vacuum cleaner made with 100% recycled materials and reused components.
“Sustainability is something I’m excited and proud about,” says Sherine. “We’ve started that journey and have a very solid roadmap. In Wellbeing, the environmental impact is not only through usage of the product. There is a tradeoff between using recycled materials and ensuring repairability. The question is, what is the right balance? How do we achieve the minimum impact on our environment?”
Wellbeing has ambitious growth plans across the Business Areas, to double or more than double sales in some categories in five years, especially in cordless vacuum cleaners, air purifiers, and robotic vacuum cleaners.
“I look forward to the strong collaboration to jointly deliver on these ambitious plans and bring the right holistic and sustainable solutions to our consumers,” says Sherine.
Wellbeing already has some award-winning products on the market with lots of potential. The Electrolux Well A5/A7 air purifier won the Red Dot and iF design awards, with the jury applauding the options to customize it for your home and the covers made from recycled plastic. The Electrolux Q6/Q7/Q8 stick cleaner also won a Red Dot award for its combination of maneuverability, versatility and performance. Our new Pure 4X water purifier in Latin America won an iF Design Award for its innovative and easy user experience.
“We’ve got great products and the drive to develop more. Every great product starts with knowing our consumers, and making it easy for them to be healthy and sustainable,” says Sherine.
A favorite consumer experience: The robot vacuum cleaner! I tried a prototype for a couple weeks. Whatever you’re doing, on the phone or doing a bit of work, you click a button, and when he’s done (yes, I call it ‘he’) he goes back to his charging station. Now I’m looking forward to trying the full experience, including the app. Here in Sweden we have launched a pay-per-square-meter robot. It’s a new business model and a good way to get exactly the value for money. I’ll try that too.
Something that you do for your own wellbeing: I love getting out into nature. In Singapore and Thailand I prioritized the beaches, of course. Coming back to Sweden, I’m looking forward to long walks by the water and cycling around the islands.