KOCHI: With the state battling a sweltering heatwave, sales of air conditioners are soaring, so much so that most home appliance stores in major cities are running out of smaller, family-size ACs from popular brands. A good number of prospective buyers are from relatively disadvantaged sections of society who have saved up for months to install an AC in their homes.
Even online stores are finding it hard to keep up with the demand, as sales this year have jumped nearly three times from a year ago.
“We sold 7,300 units in the first half of April, as against 5,400 units sold in the entirety of April last year. Demand, which picked up in February, is refusing to plateau. We’re selling 500 to 600 ACs daily. While ACs are available, the problem arises when customers insist on popular brands with star ratings. If we take into account installation as well, there is a delay of four to seven days,” said Jerry Mathew, managing director of White Mart, a leading online electronics store in Kerala.
According to him, customers visiting stores or booking orders online include the likes of auto rickshaw-taxi drivers and small-scale vendors. “Like in Mumbai, demand here is for 1-ton ACs, sufficient to cool a small room. But now, due to the humid conditions, many households are upgrading from 1-ton to 1.5-ton ACs.”
Most stores, including Lulu Connect, ran out of stock for over two weeks from mid-March. “We tried our best to cope with the demand by placing additional orders with manufacturers. But there was no stock at plants too and supplies had to be redirected,” said a senior sales executive with Lulu Connect.
Another reason for the shortage of family-size AC units was the early onset of heatwaves in other states as well. “Like most stores, we also ran out of 1-ton ACs as manufacturers couldn’t meet increased demand. This is due to the peculiar consumption pattern in the state, where customers mostly prefer 1-ton ACs unlike in other states where the demand is for 1.5-ton units. This year, the heatwave affected other states, such as Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, as early as February. And manufacturers had to cater to the demand from these states for mostly 1.5-ton ACs right from the start of the year and they couldn’t meet the sudden increased demand for 1-ton ACs,” said Zubair P A, CEO of Nandilath G-Mart.
According to him, Kochi leads in demand for AC units, followed by areas in the north like Palakkad.
Shortage of AC technicians
Installation of AC units is proving to be another headache, with many stores finding it difficult to ensure the quick availability of technicians. “I visited a home appliance store in Kaloor. They have run out of stock of brands like Lloyd. Though they have other brands, installation would take three to 15 days. It’s contracted service dealers who carry out installation work and due to high sales, they are hard-pressed for one,” said Anuja Raj (name changed), who works for a media house. “I don’t have time for installation work and mostly concentrate on servicing and maintenance. Earlier, stores used to insist on using the services of their technicians, failing which warranties would be considered void. Now with so much sales, the dealers themselves ask customers to employ outsiders for installation work,” said Vinoj Kumar, an AC service dealer based in Elamakkara.