Ex-Ariston chief hopes WhiteBox goes on, and on...

The former UK boss of Ariston and Indesit - and the brains behind the ubiquitous advertising slogan "Ariston... and on... and on..." - has set up a dot com venture selling cheap washing machines.

Giuliano Gnagnatti hopes to clean up with WhiteBox, a virtual white goods retailer launched this week. The website will initially offer customers a range of washing machines at a 10 per cent discount to high street prices. In two months Mr Gnagnatti hopes to extend the product range to refrigerators, freezers and dishwashers.

As well as selling around 85 per cent of high street brands, he will also sell his own-brand WhiteBox goods. He's signed an agreement with a Slovenian factory to make the products.

But Mr Gnagnatti has taken a whiter-than-white approach to marketing on the website. He says: "You'll notice our site has no one brand highlighted. Our brands will win customers on their own merits." WhiteBox differs from other white goods e-tailers such as Value Direct: "You won't find any 'unbeatable prices' or 'buy, buy, buy' signs all over our website. We want to offer customers the chance to make a considered choice."

In two to three years Mr Gnagnatti hopes to corner 20 to 25 per cent of the online white goods market, currently populated by 20 sites.

He says 80 per cent of WhiteBox's expenditure will be on advertising. To finance this spend, he hopes to float WhiteBox - possibly on the Alternative Investment Market - in 18 months to raise £10m to £18m to help WhiteBox break even in three years.

Mr Gnagnatti will run WhiteBox through his internet company Liberation Ventures, which he founded in 1997.

He was previously UK managing director of Merloni Domestic Appliances, which makes the Ariston and Indesit brands. He claims that "big corporates stifle talent and creativity and dampen down innovation" - which is why he launched his own venture.

Liberation also runs Paradise Possible, an online overseas property marketing site.