Focused on higher-profit products amid a soft housing market
By Alan Wolf, YSN

Whirlpool will continue to ease off the promotional pedal and will introduce an expansive new product line in 2025 in an effort to bolster margins.
In an earnings call last week with analysts, Chairman/CEO Marc Bitzer said, “It just does not make economic sense to go that deep and that long on promotional periods” when the U.S. housing market remains soft. Citing the 30-year low in existing home sales in 2024, he said appliance sales are still largely driven by replacement vs. discretionary demand, and that the company expects “only a slow and gradual improvement” in home sales this year.
To help spur sales and further boost margins, Whirlpool is launching what Bitzer described as the company’s largest one-year product transition in over a decade. That includes:
- a complete relaunch of the KitchenAid line
- a new JennAir downdraft induction cooktop
- a new Maytag top load laundry pair with improved functionality
- a new Whirlpool brand dishwasher with a 360-degree “spin-and-load” rack
- and a roughly 40% turnover in refrigerator models across all brands
“KitchenAid and JennAir are premium brands,” Bitzer said, “and to have new attractive products, in particular on premium brands, typically gives you a good lift [on] margin.”
And while refrigeration tends to fall below Whirlpool’s average margin, he said continued cost reductions and enhanced production efficiencies “will also help on that side. I think we will get a good lift.”
Bitzer added that Whirlpool is better insulated from the impact of possible import tariffs than its competitors, as domestically-produced products comprise fully 80% of its U.S. sales, with the remainder split between Mexican and Chinese factories.