City cold to ACs this year

City cold to ACs this year

Sharath S. Srivatsa
Ceiling fans and air coolers make a comeback



Cheaper option: More and more people are preferring ceiling fans to air conditioners.
BANGALORE: The economic meltdown has turned the heat on room air conditioners.

While the demand for air conditioners, which witnessed a rise in the last few years, has reduced significantly this summer, the cost-efficient ceiling fans and air coolers have made a comeback.

Leading electronic goods showrooms have seen the sales of ACs dwindle this year with enquiries not converting into sales.

Though dealers declined to give numbers, they say that ceiling fans and air coolers that are far cheaper in terms of cost and efficient in terms of energy consumption are in demand.

“The growth of sales in air conditioners can be traced to disposable income of families and growth of apartment culture in Bangalore. The slowdown has impacted both. Many customers have postponed their purchase of air conditioners since they are essentially a lifestyle product for a city like Bangalore,” an employee of a leading electronic showroom chain near Ashoka Pillar said.

Explaining the difference between air coolers and air conditioners, he said: “A high end cooler costs about Rs. 6,000 whereas a star category air conditioner costs a minimum of Rs. 20,000. Besides, a customer will end up paying at least Rs. 500 more for a ceiling fan or a cooler while the bill for running air conditioners could run upwards of Rs. 2,000.”

A city that had the sobriquet Pensioners’ Paradise until recently, attracting people from far and wide for its cool environs, witnessed increased sales of air conditioners only in the year 2000.

“Till the late 1990s, ceiling fans were in demand and air conditioners were restricted to the elite. The economic boom saw increasing demand for air conditioners,” a FMCG dealer in Jayanagar 3rd Block said.

According to a top executive of a leading air conditioner brand, the market for ACs in Karnataka was around one lakh annually of which about 60 per cent was in Bangalore. Of the total sales of air conditioners, the split AC in the room air conditioner category has a 90 per cent market share while commercial air conditioners the rest. “We are not finding a significant difference in sales figure compared to that of last year,” he said.

Window air conditioners that was popular in the past is now out of favour completely and even the non-star category air conditioners that are power guzzlers are not in demand though companies are offering them at liquidation (cheaper) prices starting from Rs. 14,000.