Since Riedel Crystal acquired its largest competitor, Germany“s F.X. Nachtmann, in late September 2004, the Austrian glassware manufacturer has lost no time in making strategic decisions on three of …
Since Riedel Crystal acquired its largest competitor, Germany“s F.X. Nachtmann, in late September 2004, the Austrian glassware manufacturer has lost no time in making strategic decisions on three of its newest brands: Nachtmann, Spiegelau and Marc Aurel. According to Maximilian Riedel, vice president and part-owner of Riedel, the main change will be in the Nachtmann brand, which Riedel sees as returning his company to the tabletop category. “When we started out in the United States, we were in tabletop.” Riedel went away from tabletop and focused on wine in the 1980s, Riedel said. “But now we are going back into tabletop with Nachtmann.” For the Nachtmann brand, Riedel is aiming to build name recognition. “We will continue to produce Nachtmann product under the Nachtmann name to rebuild the brand in the United States,” he said. Riedel would like to change the situation in the US whereby it is known for producing glass and crystal for other well-known tabletop brands, such as Lenox and Mikasa, among others. “That is about 60% of Nachtmann“s business,” Riedel said. “We“d like to change that.” To accomplish this, Riedel is introducing a “small launch of its first collection” with approximately 60 items at the Ambiente fair in Germany in February 2005, according to Riedel. “We“ll have a preview for our top customers in early January.” The collection will range in price from USD 9 to USD 1,000, which Riedel admits is broad. “We have to test the waters to see where the brand best fits. Who will be our future competitors, we can“t tell you just yet,” he said. Tim Maher will continue as president and CEO of Nachtmann, and the staff in the United States will also remain the same. The product will be warehoused and shipped from Riedel“s facilities in Edison (New Jersey), Spokane (Washington), and Dallas, and Riedel and Nachtmann will share the same sales staff. There has been no decision on the agreement with Enesco, in which Enesco became the exclusive distributor of Nachtmann-branded products in North America, Riedel said. The Spiegelau brand will remain unchanged: “We will continue to compete against ourselves with this brand,” Riedel said, explaining that the brand will have a separate and dedicated sales force, the management team will stay in place and delivery of products will continue to be direct from Germany, with no office or warehouse in the USA. “We“re not trying to change Spiegelau at all,” Riedel said. “It“ll have the same customers, the same product and all the same management. It is, and was, the crown jewel of Nachtmann and will remain so.” Riedel does plan, however, to grow Spiegelau“s business in the US market, which is by far the firm“s most important, using his company“s expertise in this market. “With the public relations knowledge and the customer base we have at Riedel, we want to push that brand.” Regarding the Marc Aurel brand, there are “no plans for the U.S. market yet,” Riedel said. However, he did not rule out bringing the brand to the United States. “We are focusing on the Nachtmann brand in 2005; we“ll see what happens beyond that.”