This Diwali, appliance sales across brands have been influenced by work-from-home (WFH) patterns. Appliance makers told Moneycontrol that products like mixer grinders, refrigerators, dishwashers and smart televisions are the most popular since salaried employees are working remotely.
Laxmi Puja, the main day of the five-day Diwali festivities, will be celebrated on November 15. Diwali sales began in the first week of November and will continue till the fourth week of this month.
Customers are stepping out less, cooking at home and relying on smart televisions for entertainment.
Avneet Singh Marwah, CEO of Super Plastronics (SPPL), said that Thomson’s 32-inch smart television is among the most affordable brands online at Rs 10,999. He added that another best-seller is the Thomson 55-inch bezel-less Android TV that is available for Rs 32,999.
SPPL is the brand licensee of Thomson and Kodak TVs in India.
“There are banks that offer zero interest on EMIs, including debit cards and exchange offers on all our Thomson TVs,” added Marwah.
Ahead of Diwali, the country’s largest consumer electronics brand, Samsung, has launched the first rotating television called ‘Sero’, with a 43-inch screen size. Here, content viewing can be rotated between horizontal and vertical screens at the flick of a button. The Sero will be exclusively available at Reliance Digital stores for Rs 1,24,990.
Early purchase of air-conditioners
Even though air-conditioners are, typically, considered as summer appliances, WFH has also called for comfortable work-like conditions since office hours are considerably stretched beyond the traditional 9-6 timing.
“The need to stay at home and remote working have boosted the demand to maintain thermal comfort at home. Our festive offers come as an add-on value for customers,” said Gurmeet Singh, Chairman and Managing Director, Johnson Controls-Hitachi Air Conditioning India.
Hitachi has introduced extended warranties, cashback offers, lower EMI offers and free installation offers on its air-conditioning and refrigeration products. The offers are valid at around 10,000 retail outlets and leading e-commerce platforms across India.
Further, consumers can avail up to 10 percent cashback with Axis Bank’s credit and debit cards on shopping Hitachi air-conditioners and refrigerators.
The brand is also offering a unique scheme, wherein consumers can avail higher star-rated inverter air-conditioners with lower and fixed EMIs. Free installation is also being offered for Hitachi inverter ACs.
Kitchen products rule the roost
Amidst concerns about COVID-19, there is a pick-up in sales of kitchen appliances and dishwashers. Dealers and appliance makers said that even though products like dishwashers were traditionally seen as high-end appliances, remote working has led to middle-class customers also buying them.
Moneycontrol had reported earlier that large brands like Voltas Beko, LG and BSH Home Appliances (Bosch, Siemens and Gaggenau) are seeing a surge in demand for dishwashers compared to last year.
Neeraj Bahl, MD & CEO, BSH Home Appliances, said that the brand is offering a 10 percent credit-card cash-back on all dishwashers.
Dishwashers are estimated to be a Rs 200 crore industry in India. The global dishwasher market is estimated to be $7 billion (Rs 52,400 crore approximately). If the current demand continues till the end of FY21, dealers estimate that almost 100,000 dishwashers would be sold in a year, seeing an almost 100 percent growth over the previous year.
Saving time while staying safe by reducing touch seems to be the motto. This has led to the sale of one-pot cooking devices and mixer grinders.
For kitchen appliance brand Wonderchef, stand mixers, OTGs, Nutri-Pot (electric cooker/steamer) as well as cookware sets are the most popular. The company is eyeing festive sales of Rs 120 crore, said Wonderchef Managing Director Ravi Saxena.
The brand is offering 15 percent discount on products for Diwali 2020.
Saxena said that compared to pre-lockdown when customers were buying a single cookware, now the idea is to buy an entire set to meet the needs of the kitchen. The home-grown appliance brand is co-owned by celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor and was founded in 2009.
Why is Diwali 2020 sale season crucial for brands?
Every year, sales worth Rs 4,500 crore are clocked between August and November. This accounts for almost 50 percent of the annual sales for consumer durables firms.
The white goods market in India, currently worth about Rs 60,000 crore, is growing around 15 percent every year. However, 2020 has been different as COVID-19 has led to a 65 percent decline in revenue in April, May and the first half of June. Appliance makers are hoping to make up for the lost sales during Diwali.
Even as sales resumed ahead of Onam in August, offline sales continue to be slower. Moneycontrol had reported how Onam sales were not as expected due to sudden lockdowns in parts of Kerala.
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