Waiting to exhale
Intro: After a dismal 2020, the air-conditioner market is expectedto bounce back this year, and companies are already gearing up with innovativedesigns and technologies, writes Santosh Salian.
“Withthe pent-up demand coupled with the anticipated scorching summer, we areoptimistic that the category will achieve a good growth rate in the periodleading up to summer 2021.”
- SantoshSalian, Product Group Head – Air Conditioners, Godrej Appliances.
Owingto the pandemic, a new lifestyle centred around ‘health’ and ‘hygiene’ isinfluencing purchase decisions – especially as a large section of thepopulation continue to work from home. This is evident from the higher demandfor such offerings in various markets.
Newtechnologies and features delivering better hygiene and health have become partof the proposition consumers seek. People are also slowly warming up to moresustainable offerings. Even, with Covid wave on a downswing, better indoor airquality is going to stay as part of strong product offerings in ACs, videFilters being used in ACs, along with suggested ventilation.
Majorityof the AC sales take place in the months of March–May. Currently, thetemperatures are not too high and it is too early to predict how the summersale for 2021 will pan out. However, a stark AC price increase anywhere between12 per cent to 18 per cent due to the unavoidable price hikes in commodityprices may dampen the demand for the category.
Lastyear’s summer sales were lost due to lockdown and, hence, the growth will lookbullish over the sale in the summer of 2020. The right comparison will beagainst summer of 2019. Looking at the price hikes, the growth is estimated tobe around 15 per cent over the summer of 2019.
Moreover,as the trade was saddled with inventory, post lockdown, most of the companieslost out on primary billing. We hope both of these issues will be resolvedbefore the peak summer season kicks in.
Withthe pent-up demand coupled with the anticipated scorching summer, we areoptimistic that the category will achieve a good growth rate in the periodleading up to summer 2021.
The onset of the global pandemic hasraised consumer consciousness on the quality of air. All air-conditioner brandswill seek to leverage air purification and sanitisation technologies to helpconsumers breathe easily.
Several brands have launched air-conditionerswith UV-C technology, special anti-viral coated filters, and ionisationtechnologies to offer 99 per cent plus elimination of viral bodies. In additionto this, there is an increased focus on technologies that eliminate bacteriaand harmful pathogens.
Another growing trend is air-conditionersthat offer adjustable cooling capacities. These air-conditioners allowconsumers to change the frequencies at which the air-conditioner operates, toswitch between different cooling capacities allowing a single unit to operatein different tonnages.
The utility of these air-conditionerslies in their ability to transition to different modes basis the number ofpeople in the room or the time of day.
A greater number of brands havebegun to offer smart air-conditionerswith connected mobile applications that offer analytics, intelligent cooling,and the ability to control the unit remotely. These technologies have beenpresent for quite some time in the Indian market, but have seen limited takers.The onus lies with manufacturers to integrate IoT technologies in a way thatwill truly impact the utility. Until such time, IoT will continue to havelimited relevance.
Brands have now begun to offer alarger number of colour and design options to consumers giving rise to a marketwhere consumers can also build preference for products basis how the air-conditionerworks with the design and aesthetic of their rooms. I expect to see a number ofnew innovative colour options and fascia designs in the future.