Home appliance industry continues to grow

‘Energy saving solutions will be entering the market in the coming years’.

KARACHI:

The home appliances industry in Pakistan has been growing steadily for the last two years – despite the international recession and dip in sales due the floods.

“Internationally the home appliance industry witnessed a 40 per cent hit because of the recession but in Pakistan the impact was around 10-12 per cent, so it was not that bad,” said Dawlance’s GM Marketing Syed Hasan Jamil.

He explained that one of the reasons why the recession had not affected Pakistan was because people here mostly paid in cash, in full but internationally, most sales were on installments, credit cards and loans.

Jamil said that Dawlance was exporting to eleven countries at the moment, including Middle Eastern countries, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and some African countries, as well and exports accounted for 10 to 11 per cent of the company’s total revenue in 2010.

Home appliances are becoming more affordable. “Penetration of home appliances is growing day by day. Sales of split air conditioners and microwave ovens are increasing,” said Jamil.

He added that in rural areas, refrigerators were being sold on easy installments, and there was also a market for second hand refrigerators. “In refrigerators if you talk about the whole of Pakistan, the penetration is approximately 65-70%,” he said. He said market penetration of washing machines was almost equal to that of refrigerators.

He explained that these commodities had become increasingly affordable over the last few years, and people had more disposable income, and had alternate sources for generating funds, like loans. A couple of years ago, owning a split type air-conditioner was considered a sign of repute and stature, where as now, it’s a necessity, he explained.

Jamil said that energy efficient appliances are not very common in Pakistan, adding that in years to come, there will be a lot of energy solutions and energy products entering the Pakistani market. “Special technologies in compressors are coming up making the energy consumption more effective and efficient, so these products may come in,” he said.

“These products reduce power consumption by 30 percent and onwards.” With the passage of time, as more energy efficient products will be designed, Dawlance will be at the forefront of the new changes that will occur, he added.

According to Jamil, a number of competitors had entered this market; however, many had disappeared, either because they could not reach the required quality standards or were unable to keep costs constant.

We live in hard times and the overall environmental conditions have a major role in hindering the performance of other brands, he said.



Published in The Express Tribune, June 1^st, 2011.