In a bid to battle it out in the fiercely competitive market, consumer durables firm Haier Appliances plans to expand its reach to the tier 2 and tier 3 markets in the country.
Eric Braganza, President, Haier Appliances India, said: “In 2013, we expect to grow by 43 per cent, year-on-year. We expect our revenues to grow from Rs 1,203 crore in 2012 to Rs 1,700 crore by 2013.”
“India is one of the fastest growing markets for Haier and our long-term plan is to grow our overall market share to 10 per cent from the current 4 per cent in India and be among the top brands in the next five years.”
Marketing spend
From increasing its marketing spends by nearly 50 per cent over last year on brand-building initiatives, to growing its dealer network and sprucing up its service back-up, the Chinese company is betting big on the India growth story.
On Saturday, the company launched 79 new products across air-conditioners, water-heaters, refrigerators, consumer electronics and commercial freezers.
Haier’s growth has largely been driven by refrigerators and flat-panel television sales. In the future too the company expects refrigerators, flat-panel TVs, air-conditioners and washing machines to drive growth, said Braganza.
Expansion
The company manufactures refrigerators at its plant in Ranjangaon, Pune, and plans to increase capacity from 10 lakh units to about 20 lakh units by 2014. He added that the company could also look at new plants to expand capacity. Besides serving the Indian market, the plant also exports refrigerators to West Asia, some parts of Africa and the CIS countries.
On widening its distribution network, the company said it plans to increase its presence to about 6,000 retail outlets from about 4,500 at present.
It also plans to expand its exclusive Haier experience zones and Shop n Shop format stores from 165 to 200.
(The reporter's visit was sponsored by Haier India.)