Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The sale of room coolers, air conditioners and refrigerators in the city has shot up due to scorching heat over the past fortnight. People are going for cooling devices to beat the unbearable heat. Room coolers are selling in the highest numbers. They are cheaper as compared with ACs and consume less power thus economical to buy and run both. The sales of coolers have gone up by as much as 60% over the past seven days.
The growth in sales of ACs is around 35%. Compared to last year, AC and coolers sales are up almost 70% to 80% and refrigerators by 55%-60%. A store manager in Koh-e-Fiza, Rakesh Sharma told Free Press that people are preferring to buy coolers. “We are selling around 25 pieces every day,” he said. With the monsoon likely to arrive in Bhopal by the first week of June, people are wary of investing Rs 40,000-plus on ACs. “Rather, they are going for coolers, which cost less than half,” he said.
A store of home and electronic appliances in New Market, has sold around 50 ACs and 100 coolers over the last one week - almost 70% for home use. “There are 10 leading manufacturers of ACs and an equal number of prominent makers of room coolers,” says manager of the store, Mahendra Nema. ACs for home use are usually of 1-2 ton capacity and priced between Rs 30,000 and Rs 70,000.
Coolers, depending on the company and the size, sell for between Rs 5,000 and Rs 25,000. Refrigerators have a wider price range, starting from Rs 7,000 and going up to Rs 3.5 lakh. According to the sales manager of a store of home and electronic appliances in Malviya Nagar, Priyanka Kachar, Voltas and Croma are the most preferred brands. ACs of these two companies start at Rs 25,000 and coolers at Rs 7,000, she said. O General ACs and refrigerators are in the premium segment and are bought by select customers, she said.
Takers for shakes, shooters, cold coffee shoot up
Scorching heat has also pushed up the sales of ice-cream, curd, butter milk and cold drinks. The manager of Top’N Town in New Market, Manish said that ice-cream sales have increased by more than 60% over the last week. Shakes, shooters and cold coffee are also among the favourites, with sales peaking between 9pm and 10pm. The Sanchi Corners have also witnessed a spurt in sale of curd, butter milk and shrikhand.
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