Orient Electric eyes 10% growth in super premium fans; to hike digital spends by 30%

Orient Electric, part of the diversified $1.6 billion CK Birla Group, recently announced the national launch of its new Aerocool super premium ceiling fan. With this launch, the company aims to gain a stronger foothold in the segment. Atul Jain, Senior VP & Business Head - Fans, Orient Electric, stated that with the kind of response the company is receiving from the trade as well as consumers for the Aeroseries fans, “we expect the super premium fans to contribute to 10 per cent of total fan sales in the next 2 years”. 

He further said, “Our Aeroseries fans range is finding acceptance all over the country, particularly in markets such as Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka in South, Maharashtra and Gujarat in West and parts of the north like Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan, which are all very critical markets. Our recent tie-up with Amazon for Aerostorm fan has been a success and we have captured No. 1 position in premium ceiling fans at Amazon Great Indian Sale (January 21-24).” 

The Orient Aerocool is priced at Rs 5,290, while the Aeroseries fans range is priced between Rs 4,500 and Rs 6,500. 

Anshuman Chakravarty
Anshuman Chakravarty
Speaking about the marketing plans for the new fan range, Anshuman Chakravarty, Head – Brand & Corporate Communications, Orient Electric, said that the company is banking a lot on conventional mediums like print and TV as they still have very high penetrations. “I think Television plays an important role in media plans, however digital as a medium has grown significantly in the last few years. This year, too, we are making a 30 per cent hike in the growth numbers in the digital space. One will see far more digital advertising and social presence from advertising point of view,” he informed. 

While speaking on the plans to tap the regional markets, Chakravarty observed, “I think customers these days don’t have the stereotypical mindset regarding urban or rural markets. Even people from Tier 2 and 3 markets have mediums for exposure due to which they get to know about the products and are keen to buy them. With this, we are also expanding our reach through e-commerce platforms. I don’t think that one has to confine the products to metro or rural markets or any particular segment.” 

Elaborating on the e-commerce strategy, Chakravarty said, “Last month, we had participated in the Amazon Great India Sale. Our premium fan segment is also No. 1 on the e-commerce platform. We found that people from smaller places are also ordering the products. Apart from this, we have tied up with Amazon in a big way this season and are also looking forward to collaborate with Flipkart. While we also have our own e-commerce platform, we have some aggressive plans to push our products there during the season which will start from March across e-commerce platforms.” 

When asked about the advertising spends, Chakravarty replied that 2018 looks good for Orient Electric. He further said, “We are foreseeing around 30-40 per cent hike in advertising spends. Primarily, our focus will remain on lights, fans and a little bit on the home appliances segment. As I mentioned earlier, along with traditional media, we are also increasing focus on digital and social media.” 

While speaking on the company’s performance in 2017, he said that overall it had been a good year for Orient Electric. “We launched our Aero Series fans last year, which did really well. With the Series we have seen almost 35 per cent market growth in the first year in the super premium segment. This year, we are expanding our range. Last month, we had launched Aerocool and now we have launched the third variant in the Aero Series. In lighting, too, we have grown almost 3X in the last two years. We have grown almost 300 per cent in the last seven months in the LED BTL category,” he added. 

On the road ahead, Chakravarty said that the key focus area this year would be on expanding the market, increasing penetration and ensuring higher growth in the premium product segment. “For that, we have to keep people updated about the new innovations that we are doing through our marketing communication. We have increased our service networks and are now spread across some 300 towns and cities across India,” he added.

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