Haier sees 35% brand growth this year; remains certain about becoming a billion-dollar company by 2020

• Haier India to become a billion-dollar company by 2020 and is also certain about being one of the top three players in the home appliance segment in the next two years.
• With its recent investment in Uttar Pradesh’s industrial park, Haier is aiming to offer almost 4,000 new direct employment opportunities along with over 10,000 indirect jobs.
• This year, the brand set aside ₹110 crore as its marketing budget. The brand spent its marketing monnies on traditional advertising, combined with digital and strategic brand sponsorships with an end goal of increasing engagement across channels.

The Chinese appliances and electronic goods maker, Haier has grown 35% this year and aims to become a billion dollar company by the end of 2020. It is also aiming at becoming one of the top three players in the home appliance segment and rise from its currently held fifth position in the country.

Last year, Haier India, which follows January-December fiscal calendar, grew at 50% and recorded a net revenue of around ₹3,500 crore. Despite seeing a dip in its Y-o-Y growth this year, Eric Braganza, President, Haier India is positive about achieving his set goals in 2020.

“Our assurance is driven largely by the higher sales and Haier’s growth trajectory in India,” says Braganza.

Importance of Indian Market for Haier
For Haier, India is one of the top contributing markets. Hence, the brand aims to introduce new ‘state-of-the-art products that align with its philosophy of Inspired Living into the market.’

Sharing the reason behind India’s strength, Branganza said, “Being at the forefront of introducing innovation through our products, we have evolved as a market disruptor in consumer durables. We have a network of 20,000 dealers across India, in which around 2,000 are direct and 18,000 are indirect dealers. We are further growing our customer base through an extensive retail network of large format stores, multi-brand outlets and a robust dealer network across the country.”

In its attempt to further strengthen its presence in the country and to ‘meet the rising demands,’ Haier invested ₹3,069 crore in an industrial park in Uttar Pradesh. It is set to open its doors by the end of 2020. Through this expansion, Haier aims to create almost 4,000 new direct employment opportunities along with over 10,000 indirect jobs.

Braganza said Haier is also open to further expand in India, citing the company’s growth and consumers growing demands.

Right now, Haier gets its lion’s share from refrigerators ー 40% of its overall turnover. “We are now increasing our investments across other categories such as Air Conditioners, Washing Machines and LED TVs,” says Braganza.

Performance in 2019
Haier India set aside ₹110 crore as its marketing budget this year. In the first half of the year, it launched an integrated marketing campaign for its PuriCool range of air conditioners.

The brand spent its marketing monnies on traditional advertising, combined with digital and strategic brand sponsorships such as KBC, Mega Icons, Masterchef, Mr. Punjab, and a few other regional programmes to ‘establish a closer connect with the customer.’

With the changing marketing landscape, Braganza says, content marketing is becoming important to engage with the consumers.

“Content is an important aspect of marketing strategies today, given the influx of multiple surfaces and mediums where customers reside. It has become essential to effectively build a connect with customers in varied forms such as video, print or in a modern setup -- a gif, meme, website interface/blogs that play a critical role in forming a brand perception in consumer’s mind,” he adds.

Braganza takes pride in the campaign ‘Silent Performers’ for its range of Silent Washing Machines launched during the festive season. The campaign highlighted the riveting stories of India’s leading women athletes -- Hima Das (sprint runner), Dipa Karmakar (Olympian artistic gymnast) and Simranjit Kaur (Indian boxer).

“The TVC has been picturized on the daily lives of these sportswomen who champion the notion of achieving goals despite ‘unimaginable challenges’ and ‘media glare’,” he explains.

This year, Haier also introduced heavy discounts and cashback offers to latch onto the trend. It saw more and more consumers ‘shifting to easy finance options for purchasing products’ and decided to partner with Bajaj Finserv, HDBFS, HDFC, IDFC First, Kotak and Axis Bank. Collectively, it offered affordable EMI schemes while giving the customers a chance to make the most of the festive season.

Going forward, the brand will continue using integrated marketing solutions to increase engagement with its consumers, introduce new products to meet their rising demands, and give them an ultimate product experience.