Godfreys

Godfreys are a niche appliance retailer based in Australia and New Zealand that primarily sell vacuum cleaners.

History

Godfrey Cohen founded the first Godfreys store in 1931 in Prahran, Melbourne.^[1] The business expanded within Australia as demand from customers increased after World War Two, and the product range grew from solely bagged vacuum cleaners to include steam mops, carpet shampooers and bagless vacuum cleaners over time. Godfreys was sold to private equity companies Pacific Equity Partners and CCMP Capital Asia for $350m in 2006.^[2][3] In 2012, the business underwent a major restructure to reduce debt by over 90%^[4] and replaced outgoing CEO Stephen Heath with industry veteran Tom Krulis.

Company Structure

Godfreys consists of a combination of 209 company and franchise stores in Australia and New Zealand.^[5] In addition to their retail stores, Godfreys owns multiple vacuum service and repair centres across the two countries.^[6]

Brands

Godfreys currently holds the license to distribute Hoover brand vacuum cleaners in Australia and New Zealand. In addition to the Hoover brand, Godfreys also distributes the Wertheim brand of cleaning products in Australia, and recently have begun providing Lux products from Europe under the brand name Sauber due to name infringement issues with Lux Asia Pacific which is owned by Vorwerk.

Advertising

Godfreys have obtained brand awareness in Australia and New Zealand through many years of similar television advertisements featuring John Hardy.^[7][8] The company has been subject to several advertising complaints in the last decade, specifically around its use of the term 'Ship Hot' in its 2006 television commercials^[9] and in 2013 for its use of political names in television advertising including Tony Abbott, Kevin Rudd and Clive Palmer.^[10]

In November 2013 Godfreys withdrew a New Zealand advert following complaints of racism. The advert featured a white male wearing an "afro" style wig using terms such as ""aww hey Bro, this one's bigger than Kim Dotcom's chilly bin aye ... Godfreys heaps big sale ... Aww bro this one's bigger than Gerry Brownlee's undies aye ... Aww it's heaps big, choice." (mimicking a "lower class" person of Māori or Pacific Island descent, as well as referencing the overweight politician Gerry Brownlee, and equally large media presence Kim Dotcom ^[11]

References