Dry summer for cooler sales, except in north, east parts

With the monsoon playing hot and cold, air-conditioner sales did not pick up this season. Coolers also witnessed a largely dry run. However, cooler sales were patchy, with North and East India emerging as the bright spots.

“Once the rains come, cooler sales do not pick up due to humidity. Though the rains were insufficient, they started at the right time,” says H.S Vadiya, Chief Marketing Officer, Videocon.

For Videocon, cooler sales dipped by 12-15 per cent even as their air-conditioners sales grew by 8 per cent. The company’s Kenstar cooler range holds 21-22 per cent of market share.

Videocon’s main market presence is in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, and some parts of Tamil Nadu, where industry in general was impacted.

BAJAJ ELECTRICALS

For Bajaj Electricals, the summer saw customer purchase up by 60-70 per cent during April-June, despite no increase in production as inventory from last summer was cleared.

“The summer of 2012 has been erratic. While parts of Tamil Nadu and Hyderabad were a wash-out (for sales), parts of North and East did well,” says Pramod Khosla, Senior General Manager & Head Marketing (Appliances) at Bajaj Electricals.

“In terms of production, the industry as a whole fell by 20-25 per cent, as there was considerable inventory from last summer,” he adds.

Sales in parts of West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa and Jharkhand were good. The company holds 23 per cent share in the air-cooler segment.

Players such as Symphony Ltd and Bajaj Electrical, however, sailed through largely due to better cooler sales in North and East.

“We managed good sales during April–June especially in North and East. Our April-June quarter in 2012 recorded a healthy growth of 52 per cent over the same quarter in 2011,” says Rajesh Mishra, Senior General Marketing, Symphony Ltd. The company commands 45 per cent share of the branded cooler market.