Haier, the Chinese multinational consumer electronics major is ‘hopeful’ of beating the impact of coronavirus, based on its strong fundamentals of business operation in India, but warns of a 3-5% hike in prices of electronic consumer durables, by the industry.
“Haier India had planned full production from January 2020 and, built up a good inventory, to meet the demand surge in-season times. Since we had assessed that our factories in India would not be able to meet the demand during the specific months,” Eric Braganza, President, Haier Appliances India said.
Haier official justified the launch of 83 products in a day; to make it easier to cater to wide range demands, of a wide range of customers in a country like India with diverse consumer preference and to help dealers make decent margins.
As a result, he claimed it is more comfortable amongst all its competitors in India. “We had ordered in advance key components like compressors, motors, glass door finishers for refrigerators from China. By and large, we should be OK as a brand,” he said.
However, Braganza warned that supply will be under pressure leading to the prices of consumer durables rise by 3-5%.
Amidst the challenge of coronavirus and economic slowdown, Haier India is betting to increase its revenues by 45% in 2020-21 over 30% it recorded in 2019-20. It will be still lower than 47% revenue the company registered in 2017.
“We have a target to be amongst the top three brands in India by end of 2020-21 and among the top two soon,” said Braganza.
The company is betting to be amongst the top three brands based on the performance of 500 dealers, sales of 300 plus products and over 539 service outlets.
Haier is giving thrust to make all its products into a smart appliance that are controlled by the Internet and mobile phone and Haier app.
Reports on digital future, estimate that 50 billion objects will be connected to the Internet by 2020, producing a massive volume and variety of data at unprecedented velocity. This data will further help in the development of products to work on artificial intelligence.
“It is still in the nascent stage in India, but it will certainly grow,” he said. According to a report by PwC and Consumer Electronics and Appliances Manufacturers Association (CEMA), players in smart home products can expect a rise in annual growth rate (CAGR 2018-22) of 61.4% with a volume of US$5901 million.
