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LG Electronics India will soon be launching a series of premium products in the home appliance segment to improve profit margins and enhance the contribution of high-end product sales to 50 per cent from the current 30 per cent of overall sales.
Chris Jung, Senior Vice-President and Head of Sales Global Appliance, LG Electronics, told the visiting journalists that the company believes that the Indian market has matured enough for premium products and people are willing to pay the extra money for quality products.
Initially, the prices of these premium products may be on the higher side but it will gradually come down as volume picks up, he said quoting the example of OLED TV panels.
LG, which is already a leader in washing machine and refrigerators in India with a market share of 35 per cent, is spending about $7 billion or five per cent of its total revenue of $142 billion in research and development of premium products.
Agreeing that competing with cheap Chinese products at the medium price range of consumer goods segment is getting difficult, Jung said though they will copy specifications of LG’s premium product also, it will take sometime and by then LG would have already moved up the ladder.
New refrigerator
LG would soon launch InstaView door-in-door refrigerators with a glass panel that illuminates the interior with two soft knocks on the glass door. Consumer can have a look on the items stored without opening the door and save on electricity consumption. It will also come out with twin washing machine that can simultaneously wash white and coloured clothes in separate tubs. It will also launch fast cool air conditioner with dual inverter compressor and dish-washing machine with steam.
In next two months, the company would start manufacturing home appliance products from its new plant in the US following the high safeguard duty levied by the Trump government.
“We entered the US market in 2002 and have emerged as a prominent player with launch of premium products. Customers are not always looking price point but also value the price can deliver,” said Jung.
LG is currently working on products that can save energy and use internet of things to ease the pain point of customers and make their life easier, he added.
The writer in Seoul at the invitation of LG Corp
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