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Since 2018, there has been intense competition between the local and multinational electronics manufacturers to woo consumers until the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic since last March caught everyone unawares. Like many other businessmen the electronics items manufacturers felt anxiety over their survival.
Shutdown
More than three months long shutdown imposed by the government to check the virus outbreak destabilised trade and commerce across the board. Other than essential items like food and drugs, demand for other items collapsed. Besides, supply chain disruption both at local and international levels also impacted the consumers market. The income of the majority people dropped forcing consumers to change their spending pattern. They have bought more regular products like rice, flour, oil, and frozen food as well as hygiene products such as soap and liquid antiseptic.
A Narrow Save
However, both the local and multinational electronics makers seemed to have survived the onslaught of the COVID-19 narrowly thanks to sales of products like washing machines, blenders, bread makers, microwave ovens, vacuum cleaners and trimmers. The sales were mostly done through online platforms allowing them to reduce the margin of colossal losses. With most of the showrooms of the electronics companies shut until July because of complying with the government directive of physical distancing to check the spread of coronavirus, electronics manufactures relied on online platforms to strengthen their e-marketing system. But those electronics manufacturers who could not utilise the online platform during the shutdown period witnessed an increase in sales of their products in the early post-Covid-19 period, most precious from the month of August.
Washing Machine
The manufacturers said that the washing machines were the most sought after electronic item during the COVID-19 outbreak and even in the early of the post-Covid-19 period. They attributed high demand of washing machines to the necessity of keeping clothes clean and out of infection risks. The clothes washing tasks were mainly done by household maids in urban areas. But things have changed dramatically during the shutdown when households were forced to stop housemaid services on the ground of safety issues. Electronics suppliers said the demand for washing machines was so high that one of the companies went out of its stock.
Stock Out
Assistant general manager of marketing at Transcom Electronics Limited Siakat Azad told a vernacular daily that the demand for washing machines in the early COVID-19 period shot up 300 per cent. As the company could not foresee the situation, they failed to meet the extra demand, he said, adding that the sales of the item could have been higher had not their stock exhausted. According to him, demand for the item was higher than the usual time. The market operators said that to meet the high demand many companies resorted to emergency import.
Smart TVs
Singer Bangladesh marketing manager Raziur Rahman said besides high demand for washing machines, the demand for computers also marked a sharp rise. He observed that the future demand for electronics depended on the COVID-19 situation. Electra International that sells TVs, fridges, ACs, microwave ovens of electronics giant Samsung also sells their own brand products. Electra International officials said that they witnessed 50 per cent higher growth in sales of the washing machine and 20 per cent of the microwave ovens. He said the demand for smart TVs also increased. They calculated that the sales volume in July-August was almost similar to that of last year’s sales.
Demand for Refrigerator Backs
The sales of refrigerators trend have also been encouraging for manufacturers, especially Walton which holds 70 per cent of the market share. The demand for the item went high just before the Eid-ul-Azha. According to Walton Hi-tech Industries Additional Managing Director Golam Mortuja the Eid occasions were regarded as the best time for sales of electronic goods. However, this year is totally different for them since keeping survival became the main motto of the businessmen in the wake of the COVID-19 that disrupted the supply chain and ran havoc in traditional economic activities in the country like elsewhere. Still, Walton managed to see good growth in sales of the company cash cow since July. Available data revealed by the company officials showed that the company sold one million fridges since March. The number is slightly lower than the number of last year. The company’s strategy to introduce online sales kept supply chain network work amid the onslaught of the COVID-19 outbreak.
ACs Sales Comeback
Besides fridges, the sales of smart TVs and ACs are also convincing since the company sold 200,000 televisions and 42,000 ACs in the last six months. The company, by the time, enhanced its presence in the global market as its export order grew 10 per cent year. To the market operators, the turnaround in sales of ACs became the most positive signal for the manufactures. Air coolers sales plummeted with the global campaign that the COVID-19 virus can be active under the air-conditioned temperature than in normal temperature. However, consumers have been showing demand for the product since July with the arrival of hot and humid weather.
Middle-Class Matters!
Middle-class consumers in the country consisting of more population than Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand should be given credit by the electronics manufactures to help keep their factories open amid the virus outbreak. Both the local and multinational companies running factories in the country know it well that they have a long way to go to tap the local market and capture the regional market. The imported electronics items are still holding the larger pie of the market that will come down following government policy to support products manufactured locally. Bangladesh Investment Development Authority has calculated that only one-ninth of the market is held by locally produced electronic items. So, there is huge scope for local companies to grab the larger pie, now held by global electronics products imported by their local dealers.
Dream On
The number of people getting connected to the national grid of electricity is rising. If the total population of the country is linked to the national grid, then local demand for electronics will grow to over US$10 billion. Establishing assembling plants in Bangladesh by the global giants would not only allow them to enjoy a niche market but also help them exploit the export market in the land-locked Himalayan countries. The electronics manufacturers said the exciting time they were enjoying to become a regional player has been interrupted by the presence of the COVID-19 virus. The dream is not broken but is on.
