What is the market size of electronic home appliances in Bangladesh? How is the business faring amid the Covid-19 pandemic?
At present, the size of the electronic home appliance market is around Tk15,000 crore, of which about 60% is the volume of refrigerators. About three million refrigerators are sold every month. From this 60%, Minister's market share is about 25%, of which 20% are refrigerators and the remaining 5% are TVs, ACs, and other appliances.
Currently, the business situation is quite weak. As the shutdown has lingered for a long period, trade has come to a standstill. Again, such products are considered luxurious and people now have lower purchasing capacity. As a result, sales of such products have declined significantly.
However, to handle this situation, we have given more importance to home delivery service, online sales and other methods. Going beyond traditional marketing, we are adopting some new approaches. We are working with some e-commerce platforms and conducting live sessions on social media to boost our online sales.
Sales of refrigerators have fallen in an unprecedented manner, at a time that is supposed to be the peak demand season. How much did it decline?
Due to the pandemic, the purchasing capacity of everyone, especially the middle class, lower-middle class, and lower class, has decreased a lot. Retail and medium traders are having a difficult time because no one has been able to do business for the last three months due to the countrywide shutdown. Many workers have been laid off or their salaries reduced. For all these reasons, sales did not turn out as expected during Eid-ul-Azha, which is considered the season for selling refrigerators.
Minister's target is to sell about 100,000 refrigerators, which is far below the target like everyone else. We have achieved about 50% of our target.
However, thinking of everyone, we have taken several steps. The first of our measures was to bring down the price of the products. If you notice and analyze the market, you will see that in terms of price, our product prices are almost half of that of other products. In addition, we are keen to help customers through installments by thinking about their purchasing capacity.
For this, we have been able to arrange their installments on easy terms. Besides, we have streamlined our online platform for hygienic shopping while maintaining social distance. It is difficult to say when the current situation will return to normal, but we can expect trade to return to normal, and the sooner that happens, the better for our economy.
What measures are needed to turn the sector?
The government needs to come forward and we know the government has already announced incentives. The proper use of this incentive should be ensured. Small and medium traders should be included in it, including dealers and traders at the rural levels.
How can we strengthen the export of refrigerators?
The hope is that locally produced refrigerators, though limited in quantity, are now exported abroad. I can say if everything can be made easier, including value added tax (VAT), letters of credit (LC), port management, etc - then it can be increased to a greater extent. If we have to make world-class quality products, then these need to be reformed.
As far as our products are concerned, they are good in quality. We also want to see ourselves as a Bangladeshi multinational company in future and we are working tirelessly towards that goal.
Do you think the announced stimulus package will help businesses and the economy?
I believe that the incentive package announced by the prime minister will help the business sector. This stimulus package is announced with a view to disburse the funds among businesses to help them survive the economic fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic. I hope this will allow the affected traders to start all over again in a good way and the business will be revived and also strengthen the economic aspect of the nation.