Polti, foreign sales drive growth in turnover

Internationalisation and new product lines to consolidate the recovery of the Polti Group, a Lombardy-based SME manufacturer of small household appliances, including the famous Vaporella and Vaporetto, which is now focusing on coffee machines. "My father produced a machine with compostable Ese pods in the 1990s," says Francesca Polti, president, CEO and second generation of the family business. "Two years ago we thought of a return to the origins and of relaunching these products. We now sell several models, while next year we will start marketing a super-automatic machine'.

Around the cup revolves a family business because as a natural partner the choice fell on Aroma Polti, his brother Stefano's company specialising in the packaging and distribution of coffee beans, capsules and Ese pods. "At the basis of this strategy is the idea, the desire to diversify the offer and minimise the risk of being an almost single-product company with this return to the origins by exploiting the notoriety of our brand," continues the CEO referring to the Vaporella and Vaporetto lines. Polti has retained both the leadership of the steam cleaning market in Italy, France and Spain, and that of the boiler irons market in Italy.

Vaporetto has also developed a professional line for communities and the Ho.re.ca. market for the disinfestation with steam of bedbugs that have become increasingly resistant to chemical disinfestants but not to steam that kills bedbugs and their eggs.

Now 8-10% of the turnover comes from the sale of coffee machines because 'this is a market with a slight growth,' explains Francesca Polti. 'For the next few years, our business plan foresees a double-digit growth in revenues. After a 2023 closed with more than 60 million in revenues and a return to the profitability levels before the war in Ukraine and the rise in energy tariffs, this year we are aiming for a 15-18% increase in turnover. For next year we are targeting +20% and in 2026 +25% "thanks to sales driven by several drivers including coffee machines, single origin coffee and the strengthening of Vaporella and Vaporetto products invented by our parents and market segments in which we are leaders". To achieve these goals, the focus is also on internationalisation. In June we opened a branch in Germany, Europe's most important market, and then we entered the United Kingdom, where sales are growing by around 25%," the CEO points out. "In other markets such as Benelux, Poland, Romania, Turkey and Greece, where we had spot sales, we are creating sales networks. We are also looking at North Africa and South Korea, and 'in the next two years we want to explore the opportunities offered by South America'. At present, exports are worth 55% of revenues for the SME, and with the grounding of the business plan, the aim is to reach 75% in 2026.

On the innovation and research and development front, over 200 patents have been filed in the 46 years of the SME's life, an average of 3-5% of revenues is invested with an activity involving the internal team, consultants and suppliers.While practically all small household appliances come from the Far East, primarily from China, Polti has decided to go against the trend by bringing the production of a Vaporella line back to Italy (see Il Sole-24 Ore of 8 October 2024). 'The industrial cost including transport and the exchange rate effect will be more or less the same,' stresses Francesca Polti, 'plus we will be more sustainable, faster and closer to the markets.