Having taken the Australian business in-house, Thermomix’s German owner is thinking big Down Under

The German company behind Thermomix is using a makeover of the all-in-one wonder blender and cooker to spearhead a ramp-up in Australia after buying out the WA family who brought the appliance Down Under.

Vorwerk has big plans for Australia, with new regional management dramatically increasing its force of commissioned-based Thermomix sales consultants to take better advantage of Australasia’s under-exploited potential.

Home-based in Perth, Thermomix has achieved an impressive 15 per cent market penetration in WA, making the State one of the appliance’s best global performers.

However, the appliance is in just 6 per cent of households in New South Wales and Victoria. In New Zealand, which is also covered by the Australian management team, penetration stands at only 2 per cent.

Reinforcing Vorwerk’s commitment to Australia, the country will be one of the first markets in the world to receive its new model, the sleek $2649 TM7, which was developed at a cost of €170 million ($285m) and launched to an ecstatic crowd of Thermomix consultants from around the world in Berlin two weeks ago.

The 124-year-old Vorwerk in November brought the Thermomix Australasian distribution in house by buying The Mix Australia from Perth’s Mazur family for an undisclosed sum, saying the deal was “in line with our global strategy of investing in markets with high growth potential and strengthening our presence in strategically important regions”.

Husband and wife Grace and Witold Mazur famously snared the regional rights to Thermomix after chancing on the German-made machine during a holiday to their native Poland more than 20 years ago.

They built their business into Australia’s biggest direct-selling company and Vorwerk’s biggest independent Thermomix distributor, turning over up to $155 million a year while pocketing cumulative dividends of in excess of $100m during their ownership.

However, profit and sales had fallen to well off their peaks before Vorwerk’s purchase.

In the year to June 30 last year, The Mix’s net profit more than halved to just $2.04 million as revenue fell 8 per cent to $99.7m — the lowest mark since 2019 and the aftermath of a damaging run-in with Australia’s consumer watchdog.

Vorwerk has declined to discuss the purchase.

However, company presentation material suggests The Mix could have been at odds with the group’s 2019 global strategy of increasing sales through continuous growth in consultant numbers.

Vorwerk believes that as long as there is a primary focus on growing its pool of consultants, sales will increase.

The strategy appears to be working.

In contrast to The Mix, where the number of consultants had fallen by one-third to 2000 last year from 2020, Vorwerk’s revenue from Thermomix has posted consecutive annual records since 2019 as consultant numbers have doubled to nearly 117,000. Its 2024 financial results will be released next month.

New regional general manager, Philipp Grundler, a Vorwerk high achiever plucked out of Austria to run Australasia, has rebuilt consultant numbers in Australia to 2600 since taking the helm and says “the sky is the limit”.

“I want Australia/New Zealand to be in the top five markets in the Thermomix world, which would mean the (sales) equivalent of high five digits or low six digits every year,” Mr Grundler said.

Thermomix sales in Australia since 2013 exceed 690,480, or about 63,000 a year.

“When it comes to consultants and selling more machines, we see tremendous potential,” Mr Grundler said.

The appliance is only sold via the commission-based consultants, through home demonstrations, group parties and cooking classes.

Since introduced to Australia by the Mazurs, it has developed an almost cult following in Australia, spawning large online groups, blogs and cook books.

Vorwerk’s model of direct sales is aimed at building “communities” of engaged users interacting over recipes, tips and new Thermomix accessories.