CG Digital, under Chaudhary Group is the authorized dealer of Onida appliances for Nepal. Mirchandani spoke to Akanksha Upadhyay of Republica on the relation between Nepali market and Onida appliances.
How is Onida doing in Nepal´s market?
We have recently introduced the brand to the Nepali market. Till date, we were not much focused in this market, rather our focus lied in the Indian market. As we have a good partner here, now we need to work harder to make our presence here significant. We are very much excited to be here.
How is the presence of Onida in the global market?
We are located all over India and in Sri-Lanka, Nepal and the Middle-East. We are not planning expansion to more countries at the moment. We want to establish ourselves better in the markets that we are involved with. But we have plan to grow aggressively in South Asian market.
What are the strengths of Onida brand?
Our main strength is that we understand the needs better than any other international companies. We have been living and growing with consumers and we understand their difficulties. People of Nepal and India suffer from power cuts, and we make products that can be operated with inverters. Many people here live below poverty line, so we need to make products that are affordable as well as reliable. Here we cook food like lentils and curry that are difficult to cook in normal microwaves.
So, Onida designs products to fulfill the needs. We tailor-make products to suit the needs of our consumers. Therefore, that´s our greatest strengths to stay and grow in this market.
What are the opportunities you see in the market of Nepal for Onida products?
In Nepal, we see a huge opportunity regarding mobile phones and display devices. With the population of 27 million people, Nepal can be a great market for cell phones at the moment. Nepal doesn´t have a good penetration in the market of mobile phones till date. The market here is only of about 90,000 to 100,000 units mobile phones per year.
In India, the market of mobile phones is of 500 million to 600 million units and about 10 million units of mobile phones are being sold every month. So, Nepal´s market too has high growth potential. And we are very keen to participate in this growth.
What are the challenges you are facing to market your products here?
Like in any other markets, here also we need to compete with global brands that are here for a long time and have already gained consumers´ trust. But we are here to take the challenges.
What are your future plans associated with Nepal´s market?
We are keen to introduce lots of new and exciting products here. We do not want to limit this market to kitchen appliances. We will introduce other products like cell phones, DVD players as well as LCD and LED televisions. We´ll introduce some products in the market here soon.
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