Stuck at home, Indians are upgrading their kitchen appliances — Quartz India

2021-12-07 06:48:25 By : Mr. Paul Ding

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Trapped indoors during the pandemic, Indians are overhauling their kitchens.

In recent months, the national demand for microwave ovens, juicer grinders and hand mixers has increased. A spokesperson for leading e-commerce company Flipkart told Quartz: "Kitchen appliances-big or small-have witnessed an increase in demand, with particular attention to certain market segments, such as automation or application-controlled products."

From March to now, the smart kitchen area of ​​this Wal-Mart company has quadrupled, including appliances such as kettles, toasters, vacuum cleaners and water purifiers. The company said that most of the growth came from small towns such as Patna, Lucknow, Nagpur, Chandigarh and Vadodara.

While most industries are struggling to cope with weak sales due to the Covid-19-induced economic downturn, this sudden increase in demand is a blessing in disguise for electronics manufacturers.

Despite concerns that layoffs and wage cuts will lead to a decline in discretionary spending, the number of first-time home buyers in India by Japanese electronics manufacturer Matsushita has increased significantly.

"With the opening up of operations, sales began to slowly pick up... The semi-urban and rural markets are at the forefront of driving growth. From the perspective of the secondary market, we achieved positive gains of 13% and 19% in June and July, respectively. Growth," Suguru Takamatsu, head of Panasonic's India branch, told Quartz. "The growth is mainly due to the accelerating demand for microwave ovens, direct cooling refrigerators and semi-automatic washing machines."

Takamatsu added that various cooking, baking, and do-it-yourself trends on social media have also boosted the sales of microwave ovens and refrigerators.

Similar trends have also appeared in other brands.

Samsung sees more and more consumers want to equip their homes with the latest technology. "Consumers are buying five-in-one smart convertible refrigerators and sanitary steam washing machines. In addition, refrigerators of 300 liters and above are in great demand," said Raju Pullan, senior vice president of Samsung's consumer electronics business in India.

Quartz reported on October 5 that as most Indians wander between working at home and doing housework, the country's dishwasher sales are soaring.

In addition to the kitchen, the company has also seen an unexpected recovery in demand in other market segments, mainly due to the shift to online education, working from home, and people consuming more content on OTT platforms such as Netflix.

"As consumer demand changes, many people, including second- and third-tier cities and rural areas, are buying larger smart TVs of 55 inches and above," Pulan said.

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