Air conditioner sales rise 22pct in Jan-May: GfK Vietnam
Air conditioner (air cons) sales in Vietnam registered a 22 percent rise in the first five months of 2012 with nearly 76,000 more air con units snapped up by local consumers, said a recent report from GfK Vietnam.
“It appears that consumers in Vietnam are now ready to loosen their purse strings once again following the lackluster performance of air conditioner sales last year due largely to restrained spending as a result of high inflation,” said the report.
Inverter technology continues to gain traction among local consumers.
Vietnam’s air con market registered a vast improvement of 28 percent in value jump and to date is worth over $170 million.
Since the beginning of this year, some 422,000 air cons have been sold; with sales garnered in the month of May alone contributing to a third of the total sales for the five month period.
“The country enters into summer in early May and with the afternoon heat in some of the cities rising as high as 40 degrees, air conditioners have almost become a necessity to help households stay cool and comfortable,” said Van Tran Khoa, general manager at GfK Vietnam.
“For this reason, the summer months which take place around the second quarter of each year are also traditionally the peak sales season when households are either buying additional units or upgrading their existing air con,” he said.
Increasing awareness towards environmental issues has also brought about gradually increasing number of discerning buyers who are switching to inverter air cons, even though it means forking out a higher price for these energy saving models.
GfK Vietnam findings revealed that whereas a non-inverter air con sold at an average price of $376, the average price of an inverter model hover around $504 per unit.
Despite this 34 percent difference in the price tag, volume sales of inverter air con jumped by 48 percent when compared to last year – far greater than the growth of non-inverter air con which registered only 16 percent.
“Today, almost one in four air cons purchased run on inverter technology as compared to only a fifth a year ago, and with the heightening public awareness of its energy and cost saving capabilities, we can anticipate the continued robust sales performance of eco-friendly air cons such as those with heat pumps,” said Van.
“At its low household penetration level of below 25 percent, the air con market in Vietnam holds great potential for continued growth, which is likely to achieve nothing less than 15 percent by the end of the year,” he said.
GfK Group is one of the world’s leading market research companies, with more than 11,000 experts working to discover new insights into the way people live, think and shop, in over 100 countries, every day.
The Germany-based firm delivers services in all major consumer, pharmaceutical, media and service sector market segments using the latest technologies and methodologies to give its clients the clearest understanding of their customers.
Category: Business
