Samsung consumer electronics sales boosted by India's festive season

Samsung Electro-Mechanics

05/11/2020 12:22

By Sankalp Phartiyal
    NEW DELHI, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co
 005930.KS  is seeing a big surge in consumer appliance sales
during India's festive season, a senior company executive said,
helped by pent-up demand following a nationwide lockdown to
battle the coronavirus pandemic.
    A slew of new launches across categories like televisions,
refrigerators, and washing machines as well as financing schemes
have buoyed sales, said Raju Pullan, senior vice president for
consumer electronics at Samsung India.
    "We're seeing 32% growth (year-on-year) across televisions,
refrigerators, washing machines and microwaves," Pullan told
Reuters on Thursday.
    The demand uptick is good news for the Indian economy, which
contracted by 23.9% in April-June during a stringent lockdown to
slow the spread of the pandemic.
    Indians typically make big-ticket purchases of everything
from gold to cars and electronics during the country's festive
season, which typically begins around October and lasts until
the end of the year.
    While the value of overall sales last month was much higher
in cities like Delhi and Mumbai, sales growth in smaller towns
outpaced the bigger cities, Pullan said.
    Samsung also witnessed a shift in consumer behaviour with
growing purchases of pricey, high-end televisions.
    "Consumers are spending more time at home, and are not able
to venture out for entertainment," said Pullan. "That's leading
to some quality purchases."
    As India's coronavirus infections reach 8.36 million, people
are being cautious in stepping out for daily purchases. That has
also boosted sales of large-capacity refrigerators for Samsung,
Pullan said.
    Samsung's overall consumer electronics sales grew an annual
20% in Aug-Sept after India's economy began opening up, Pullan
said, declining to comment whether sales in the second half of
the year would be enough to bridge the shortfall during the
lockdown period.

 (Reporting by Sankalp Phartiyal;
Editing by Bernadette Baum)
 ((sankalp.phartiyal@thomsonreuters.com; +91-11-49548064;))