Hyderabad:) Samsung India Electronics has decided to stop selling window air-conditioners (ACs) from this year as its sales have dwindled, the company said today.
Split ACs accounted for 85 per cent of Samsung's total sales of the segment in 2011. The company is expecting it to be 100 per cent this year.
Overall, the share of split ACs in the total off-take in the country rose from 75 per cent in 2010 to 77 per cent last year, while the window version registered a de-growth of 26 per cent, Samsung India Vice-President (Home Appliances) Mahesh Krishnan said.
"Consumers are now moving more towards energy-efficient, aesthetically-appealing ACs having low noise levels. We have decided to exit from Window AC sales from this year. The
segment stopped growing," Krishnan said at a press conference.
Announcing the nation-wide launch of 39 new split AC models, Krishnan said the southern market accounted for 32 per cent of Samsung s total AC sales.
Stating that Samsung's 2012 range of ACs will be all star rated, complying with the Bureau of Energy Efficiency standards, he said star ratings had become one of the key
purchase triggers.
"While two and three star rated ACs contributed 49 per cent to our sales in 2010 and 61 per cent in 2011, five star rated ACs accounted for 22 per cent in 2011, as against 19 per cent in the previous year.
"We expect five star rated ACs to contribute 25 per cent this year," Krishnan said,
The company is expecting to sell 500,000 split ACs in 2012, as against 350,000 units last year.
The Indian AC market, at 3 million units last year, is expected to touch 3.2 million units in 2012, he added.
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