Encouraged by the higher propensity to spend of the potential buyers and have better presence in tier-II and tier-III cities, the consumer durable companies are on expansion spree.
Whirlpool Home appliances which have 10 exclusive brand shop in Punjab and Chandigarh region have planned to upscale the number of stores. By March 2011, the company is eyeing 15 exclusive band outlets in the region. Similarly in Himachal the company is planning to appoint direct dealers in three smaller towns.
The officials from Whirlpool, maintained consumers in the small town are gradually shifting their interest towards middle and higher end products which was encouraging the company to have presence in those cities.
LG electronics which has around 75 direct counters, 150-200 exclusive sub dealer and around 1000 multi brand outlets in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal is also exploring possibilities of penetrating the C class cities in the region.
“We have realised that the existing stores in C class cities are not presentable so efforts are on to make them presentable. The people in the ‘rural’ towns are not ‘so poor’ and the market was growing beyond one’s imagination.”
The regional officials from LG believe tremendous opportunity for growth lies in the rural area which need to be leveraged.
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Sony India another Consumer electronics brand which has 24 Exclusive Brand stores-Sony Centre and Sony Exclusive stores , has plans to add another 5-10 stores in the greater Punjab region in the next 6 months.
Based on Market Potential Value of the city, Sony India is in process of identifying new locations in the region.
The officials maintain higher propensity to spend among masses in the region was definitely an encouragement for the companies in the region.
GE appliances which launched their 5 Star and 3 Star Split ACs in region this year are also bullish on the region.
S C Popli Director Sales, Shelka Marketing (distributor of GE appliance for the North Region) maintained before the onset of next season they were planning to have 50 outlets in Punjab region. At present the company has appointed 21 sub dealers in the region.
GE appliances this year have launched nine different models of Split ACs earlier this year.
S C Popli maintained AC from GE appliances have evoked a good response in Punjab and encouraged by this they were planning to have more products in their portfolio.
Apart from launching Window AC by next season we are planning to introduce Refrigerators and Washing Machines to our product portfolio.