Comments
The consumer durables industry, which is expecting record sales this Diwali, is upbeat about the pick-up in consumer sentiment which it believes will stretch beyond the festival season.
“We believe this year the buoyant consumer sentiment will not just be contained to the festival period. We believe the strong growth momentum will continue beyond the festival season on account of the wedding season and other positive economic factors,” Rajeev Bhutani, Vice-President, Consumer Electronics, Samsung India, told BusinessLine .
He said factors such as better agricultural yield on the back of good monsoons, government’s push for rural electrification as well as the Seventh Pay Commission are contributing to buoyant consumer sentiment.
The company is aiming for a double-digit growth this festival season and hopes to outpace market growth rates.
“We have been focused on launching innovative products with the latest technology across categories this year. This is in addition to the launch of several made for India products complimented with strong channel partnerships,” he said.
Bhutani said the company expects a significant portion of growth to come from semi-urban and rural regions .
This is one of the key reasons the company has been ramping up its offline channel penetration and visibility of its products in these regions.
He pointed out that consumers were also increasingly looking to upgrade to smart appliances and more energy-efficient products.
New categories Some of the new categories that have been gaining ground in recent times include air and water purifiers. Asked if the company was looking to foray in these segments, Bhutani said: “We have the complete range of products with us and have initiated certain projects to be able to launch new categories in 2017. We cannot share specific details at this stage. We have initiated a project for air purifiers in the fourth quarter.”
Samsung as a brand has been embroiled in global woes due to problems with its new smartphone-Note 7.
Asked if the company had concerns about any negative rub-off on the consumer durables category, Bhutani said: “We are a strong brand that has been in India for more than 20 years. This belief comes from the strong confidence levels exhibited by our consumers. We have been gaining in market share and revenues month-on-month.”
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.