April 30, 2024

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Lyu Jae-cheol, head of LG Electronics' home appliance and air solutions division, introduces the company's built-in appliances at this year's Milan Design Week in Milan, Italy, Tuesday. (LG Electronics)

LG Electronics unveiled the ambitious target of 1 trillion won ($722 million) in sales solely from built-in appliances by 2027 at this year’s Milan Design Week, one of the largest international design and furniture exhibitions.

“Within three years, we will be able to make our built-in (appliance) business worth trillions and turn it into another growth engine,” Lyu Jae-cheol, head of LG Electronics' home appliance and air solutions division, told a group of local reporters in Milan, Italy on Tuesday.

For this year’s exhibition, LG targeted the European built-in appliance market with premium design and AI features at its 483-square-meter booth, decorated based on the concept of a food lifestyle magazine.

It displayed the latest built-in kitchen appliance solutions, including a free-zone induction cooktop equipped with an AI boil alarm and cooking utensil tracking functions, as well as an oven with a built-in AI camera.

Lyu explained that the company focused on displaying built-in appliances to show clearly that it is a “well-prepared player” in the built-in business.

Earlier in 2018, LG entered the European built-in market with its premium kitchen appliance brand, “Signature Kitchen Suite,” and introduced a new built-in kitchen package at IFA 2023. Since last year, it has been targeting the European market by upgrading its built-in portfolio with a two-track strategy that targets ultra-premium and volume zones simultaneously.

According to global market analyst firm Euromonitor, the European built-in market was worth $21.2 billion as of last year, which accounts for 42 percent of the global market.

“The European market, which can be said to be the home of built-in products, experienced another growth momentum this year as more convenient products with AI functions emerged. ... Based on the success of the built-in business we achieved in the North American market, we will accelerate our efforts to target the European market,” he said.

Under the goal, LG will "expand its portfolio of built-in home appliances with differentiated performance and convenience through AI to add style to the kitchens of European customers and provide a better cooking experience," Lyu said.

By Jie Ye-eun (yeeun@heraldcorp.com)
The Korea Herald