With the early onset of summers, customers are increasingly looking to spend on smart cooling devices. From ACs to refrigerators and coolers to fans, there has been a significant uptick in the demand for all kinds of cooling appliances. This comes on the back of March this year being the hottest in 122 years since the India meteorological department (IMD) started maintaining records and customers spending more time indoors.
These factors have led to a significant increase in demand for cooling appliances, witnessing a 25% jump in March as against the same period last year. New Delhi and Hyderabad are the top cities leading the demand, followed by Chennai, Kolkata and Ahmedabad.
Interestingly, the demand for convertible ACs and refrigerators is also gaining traction. While convertible ACs offer customers the convenience to operate at various capacities depending upon the size of the room and number of persons in the room, a convertible refrigerator allows customers to convert the freezer section of a convertible refrigerator to make it a fridge, thereby increasing the storage capacity.
Customers are preferring ACs with Wi-Fi connectivity and Self Clean features have also seen a spike of 4X as compared to last summer. The demand for ACs with anti-virus technology, PM 2.5 air filters and dedicated anti-bacterial filters has also increased by 3X over the past year.
With respect to refrigerators, the demand has grown by 3X in the past three months with an increased affinity for features such as fast cooling and fast ice making. The base refrigerator models have also grown by 4X thereby indicating a higher number of first time buyers and an increase in overall product penetration. In the past 2 year, across households, there has been a rise in the need to store larger quantities of food in refrigerators which has in turn resulted in newer purchase trends on Flipkart.
The latest trend to emerge is the rise in popularity for independent chest freezers, which clocked a 6X spike in demand in the last 3 months. With temperatures surging in the North and East regions, demand for refrigerators has seen a sharp rise in March 2022 across states such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh.
Hari G. Kumar, Vice President – Large Appliances, Flipkart, said, “The consistent rise in temperature over the last few years coupled with the extended stay at-home is driving the demand for cooling appliances, especially the ones offering flexibility in cooling and storage. As a preferred platform for customers across the country, we are witnessing a rising propensity in consumers to purchase smart appliances offering flexibility in operations while being energy efficient and providing protection against harmful viruses. At Flipkart, we are committed to catering to the evolving needs of our customers and are offering the widest selection through brands, making it available to customers in an affordable manner across the country, thereby bringing true customer delight.”
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