It is a happy summer time for air conditioner makers like LG, Samsung, Panasonic and Haier who are expecting a 30 per cent rise in their sales this season. The reason for this rise will be the easy financing options and launch of energy efficient models.
Among other models, high-end smart app-controlled units and inverter ACs would make up for 15 per cent to their sales, specially in the metros.
“Overall, we are targeting 30 per cent and above growth in AC sales,” LG India, Business Head AC, Vijaya Babu was quoted by PTI as saying.
“Temporary erratic weather condition in the first few days of March definitely brought down the temperature in North but this year has seen an early onset of summers, right from the month of February and this will bring surge in AC sales across India,” Vice President, Consumer Electronics, Samsung India Electronics, Rajeev Bhutani was quoted by PTI as saying.
To this quote, he further added, “The industry has seen sustained growth with positive sentiment in the market towards the end of 2015. While metros will sustain the momentum, non-metros will drive penetration in the coming year with easy financing schemes, which give customers the option to upgrade.”
President & CEO of Panasonic, India and South Asia, Manish Sharma was quoted by PTI as saying, “Most of the weather reports predict highest ever temperatures this summer, which is an optimistic sign for the industry.In spite of droughts, the demand from rural markets is encouraging… the ratio of urban to rural AC sales is likely to be 60:40 this year.”
“We are looking 30 per cent growth in online sales and we have tied up with leading players such as Snapdeal and Flipkart. We can see a paradigm shift in the consumer behavior, there is a shift or a trend from preferring window ACs to now split air conditioners, earlier the ratio was 50:50, wherein now the trend has skewed towards 70:30 across all the brands or competition,” President, Haier India, Eric Braganza was quoted by PTI as saying.
