Having bagged a dominant share in the home AC segment, Voltas is now targeting the winter months with its all-weather air conditioners. Targeting a sales growth of 20 per cent , a new campaign to highlight the benefits of using an AC for heating during the winter months is now being planned by the Tata Group company .
“Festival season sales have not been great so far, but now we are eyeing 20 per cent growth in sales in the next 2-3 months, as we expect sales of models like the all-weather ACs to pick up. The concept is expected to work in the biting cold parts of the country during this time of the year,” says Pradeep Bakshi, Executive V-P, Unitary Cooling Products, Voltas.
While most inverter ACs give the same benefits, it is Voltas which had the first mover advantage by highlighting the benefits of an all-weather cooling AC through its recent campaign by Meridian.
“There will be another campaign now which will show the heating effects of the AC in a subtle way. It is a novel idea about keeping rooms warmer during winter,” added Bakshi. The new positioning of the all-weather ACs seems to have worked for Voltas. As Ajay Gahlaut, Executive Creative Director, Meridian, says, “Voltas has appropriated the positioning of its all-weather ACs and this winter it would be pushing this concept further.”
However, the biggest feat for Voltas this year was when it managed to beat the Koreans and emerge market leader in the AC segment. Its market share in August 2012 stood at 20.16 per cent, while LG was at 15 per cent and Samsung at 11.5 per cent.
Sustaining these shares will now be imperative for the Tata Group company. “It has been a Herculean task for us to prove that we can be better than anybody else. While being an AC-focussed company has helped, it is also due to the fact that being a six-decade-old company, we understand India and this should sustain us going forward,” says Bakshi.
With distribution being its forte (it reaches 6,000 outlets), Voltas is now strengthening its presence online and expects e-commerce to emerge as a new revenue stream.