Walk into a kitchen in Singapore and you are likely to find one or more food preparation appliances such as liquidizer, hand mixer, hand blender, chopper, food processor or kitchen machines. According to latest retail sales tracking report from GfK, such tools have been rising in take-up over the last four years, with the latest 12 months registering an increased sales volume of nearly 13,500 over the previous year.

The market worth of Food Preparation segment in Singapore totaled nearly USD12.5 million from April 2012 to March 2013, expanding by 8 percent in value against the previous year.

Food preparation appliances have become a great help in the kitchen to make the cooking process speedier and more convenient; the two important factors which have become rather essential in the hurried pace of life in Singapore today,highlighted Jasmine Lim, Account Director for Home Lifestyle in GfK Asia.

Some 13,400 units of liquidizer were sold in the last year, making it the most sought after food preparation appliance. This is followed by hand mixer and hand blender respectively. The liquidizer segment also garnered the highest revenue of USD 5.8 million, and is followed by the high value kitchen machines which although sold just over 4,400 units, managed to rake in more than USD 2million.

There have been lots of ongoing activities revolving around food preparation appliances, including European style cooking programs, cooking demonstrations at major departmental stores and even at home demo for buyers of various products,said Lim. All these have contributed to raising awareness towards their usage and stimulating the interest of consumers in purchasing these handy kitchen helpers.

Today, food preparation appliances in Singapore are largely dominated by European brands and can cost anywhere between USD12 for the most affordable liquidizer to a premium kitchen machine which can set consumers back by as much as USD2,100. The growing demand has led to a wider range of options for consumers as new and existing brands started offering more models in the local market. Major manufacturers are also quick to introducing new and improved models with innovative features at regular intervals.

We are witnessing an emerging trend whereby some makers are putting more focus on the aesthetic aspect of their products by coming up with interesting color ranges and assortments, as well as limited edition designsevidence that food preparation tools have to some extent blended into our daily lifestyle,said Lim. This vibrant segment of home appliances will continue to flourish and be spurred by exciting new features and models to meet every consumer needs,she concluded.

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