GERMANY: Bathrooms and shower manufacturer Hansgrohe AG opened a new branch in Brazil in September. The company has now entered the fourth and last of the BRIC markets (Brazil, Russia, India and China), consistent with its ongoing internationalisation strategy.
Hansgrohe had already launched a new flagship store in Shanghai back in April, and with double-digit growth rates it is further improving its position as Germany’s number one mixer and shower manufacturer in China.
On the Indian subcontinent, where market development has been pursued since 2009 through a separate distribution company, Hansgrohe last spring succeeded in winning the single biggest order since the company was founded some 109 years ago.
In Russia, the dynamic growth of previous years is also continuing in 2010, following a brief downturn due to the financial markets and economic crisis.
“The importance of Brazil, Russia, India and China for the global market and for German exports is growing continually,” explains Siegfried Gänßlen, chief executive officer of Hansgrohe AG. “Our expectations are that the impetus for growth in coming years will increasingly come from the BRIC markets and from the so-called ‘Next Eleven’. We estimate that about 50% of Hansgrohe’s growth will be contributed by these emerging markets.”
