Haier On A Robust Growth Trajectory
A strong product portfolio, robust manufacturing capacity and innovative marketing – that is how Haier India President Satish N.S. summed up his vision recently as he spoke about the company’s target to achieve a turnover of Rs 10,000 crore by FY25.
Haier India clocked a revenue of Rs 6,000 crore in FY23 and expects to close in FY24 at Rs 8,000 crore. The company sees air conditioners and television as their next biggest growth drivers for the Indian market.
Strong Manufacturing Capability
Satish emphasises having strong manufacturing capability. “You cannot be trading. If you are into trading, you will miss one cycle. Either you are uncompetitive with the pricing or miss one technological innovation. One must have their own research and development background,” he reckons.
Satish says product innovation and customer-centricity are at the core of Haier’s growth trajectory. For the summer this year, he says that demand shot up at the beginning of March due to higher-than-normal temperatures, but at the end of the month, unseasonal rains impacted consumer sentiment.
“From our side, we are optimistic and see an opportunity. Most markets are now soaring at 40°C plus temperatures, our AC manufacturing is at full swing, and we expect the demand to be good,” says Satish.
The company has built the capacity to roll out 10 lakh units of ACs, 15 lakh units of washing machines and 30 lakh refrigerators annually at its manufacturing plants in Greater Noida and Pune. It has plans to invest Rs 1,500 crore by 2025 for backward integration and localisation of components.
“Rooting our alignment with the government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative, we have one of the largest manufacturing hubs for all domestic supplies in the country and we are expanding our export base as well,” Satish shares.
Customer Centricity
Haier has invested heavily towards what Satish calls “creating mental presence” through advertising. The company in March announced its partnership with JioCinema as the digital streaming sponsor for the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Apart from the digital presence, Satish says that the focus has also been on physical stores, which have been turned into ‘customer experience centres,’ giving the customer a hands-on experience with the product.
On customer centricity, Satish explains how customer feedback is incorporated into Haier’s products. “There is a joint product and research and development team which keeps tracking the consumer,” he says.
“As a practice, we visit the consumer, and most of the time, there is a clear visual cue of what the customer feels is a missing feature in a product,” he states.
Haier’s bottom-mounted refrigerator and self-cleaning air conditioners, he says, have been designed by the team, taking into account the customer feedback that the teams got from their visits.
