Him Electronics that deals in Samsung´s home appliances in Nepal said sales of microwave ovens averaged at around 500 units per month in 2011/12. In previous fiscal, sales per month had averaged at 375 units a month.[break]
“Though sales of other electronic home appliances underwent sharp drops, sales of micro-wave, however, have grown consistently in the last fiscal year and touched 6,000 units,” said Binay Tripathi, deputy general manager of Him Electronics. In 2010/11, its annual sales stood at 4,500 units.
He attributed the rise in sales to growing preference among middle-income groups for microwave oven. “In the cities, where families have turned nuclear from joint structure, microwave is much in vogue because of convenience it brings in cooking and reheating food,” said Tripathy.
CG Impex, authorized distributor of LG home appliances, too disclosed similar rise in sales of LG microwave oven. Figures provided by Orbit International also show a similar rise in the sales of Beko microwave ovens.
“Sales of Beko microwave ovens in 2011/12 averaged at around 62 units per month, whereas its sales per month in the previous fiscal year had averaged at 50 units,” said Basanta Bhattarai, sales and marketing manager of Orbit International.
The sales figure of the company shows, Nepalis bought around 750 units of Beko microwave ovens in 2011/12. Its annual sale in 2010/12 was recorded at 600 units. “The growth for us has been 25 percent,” he stated.
Traders in the Kathmandu Valley attributed the rise in sales of microwave oven to growing awareness among the general public towards home appliances and change in lifestyle. “Frequent shortage of LPG too contributed to growth in sales,” said Bhattarai.
Presently, distributors have made available three types of microwave in the market, including convection microwave, combi grill and solo. Solo is the low-end product, in which users can cook food, but cannot grill. It is available in a range of Rs 12, 000 to Rs 15,000.
Combi grill uses advanced technology, thereby enabling users to cook all types of foods as well as grill. Combi grill is priced between Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000. Convection-based microwave, meanwhile, uses advanced technology and it features more than 150 menus that can be prepared easily.
The device is user friendly and comes with steam clean-- a hygienic cleaning system -- which helps to keep microwave clean without using detergent. It is available for a price range between Rs 25,000 to Rs 90,000.
Given the rise in demand, companies have continued to introduce new models in the market to raise market share and gain edge over competitors. For instance, Him Electronics has recently introduced two models of combi grill microwave oven and one convection type oven.
With the new models, Tripathi believes the company will further strengthen Samsung´s presence in the market. “We are planning to sell around 8,000 units of microwave in this fiscal year,” he added.
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