Sector Update | 1 December 2024
Consumer Durables
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Demand moderates; RAC fares better
After the festive period, we performed channel checks across various product
categories in Mumbai, West Bengal, Bihar, and Telangana markets and key
takeaways are as follows:
MUM WB BR
TG
AC
7
12 20-25 20
Refrigerator 10
10
15
15
Washing
Flat Flat 12-13 Flat
Machine
Television
5-6
~5 8-10 5-8
Mum-Mumbai; WB-
West Bengal;
BR
- Bihar;
TG-
Telangana
Category Growth (%)
Mixed trends in category growth:
Discussions with distributors indicate that
festive season demand was not as strong as it was last year and that consumer
enthusiasm was missing. Consumers delayed their buying decisions, which could
be a sign of a consumption slowdown, though it needs to be monitored. A few
distributors indicated that as Durga Pooja and Diwali were celebrated in one
month (last year, Diwali was in mid-November), it impacted demand momentum
from salaried people. Distributors also indicated that festive season demand was
restricted to a fewer number of days (5-6) this year. Among major categories,
RAC saw higher growth across regions (except in Mumbai where refrigerators
saw better growth), followed by refrigerators. Televisions saw demand growth
of around 5-10% across regions, and few distributors indicated that sales of
higher-priced items like OLED were lower than QNED. Washing machine saw
muted growth across regions, except in Bihar, where growth is estimated to be
12-13% YoY.
Inventory remains low:
None of the distributors seem to be concerned about
the inventory situation and indicated that inventory is low. Inventory for RAC is
less than 30 days now, compared with a normal level of 40-45 days. Some
distributors indicated that few brands will start primary sales for RAC in Dec’24,
though a major inventory build-up will happen in 4QFY25. The summer season in
few states start from mid-March and demand in the upcoming season needs to
be watched for, considering a higher base.
Detailed category-wise takeaways from our interactions
Room Air Conditioners (RAC)
Mumbai distributors indicated that RAC sales were impacted by rains in Sep’24-
end/Oct’24 beginning. LG did not supply 5-star (1 ton and 1.5 ton) rated ACs
after Jun’24 and 3-star rated ACs after Sep’24. Lloyd is doing well, and believes
that its market share would be 18-19% (21-22% for Voltas, 20-21% for Daikin
and 13-14% for Blue Star). Lloyd gives one of the best margins to retailers (13-
14% vs. 8-9% by Voltas). Daikin offers better prices for MT channels, and GTM
channels are not able to compete with bigger stores for its products.
Bihar distributors highlighted that most of the brands have fared well in AC
(Voltas continues to be at No.1 thanks to strong trust on Tata group; Lloyd has
done extremely well this year and has gained market share). Samsung’s supply
of 1-ton and 2-ton ACs was impacted and it was mostly supplying 1.5-ton ACs.
West Bengal distributors highlighted that there is not much inventory of RAC and
that brands like Hitachi, Daikin, Voltas, and Lloyd will start giving inventory in
Dec’24. Lloyd is doing better and it might try to increase prices in the upcoming
season. Lloyd (RAC as well as in panels) and Voltas have done better than other
brands in this festive season. Daikin offers better prices for MT channels, though
the models are different.
Sanjeev Kumar Singh - Research analyst
(Sanjeev.Singh@MotilalOswal.com)
Research analyst: Mudit Agarwal
(Mudit.Agarwal@MotilalOswal.com)
| Abhishek Sheth
(Abhishek.Sheth@MotilalOswal.com)
MotilalOswal research is available on www.motilaloswal.com/Institutional-Equities, Bloomberg, Thomson Reuters, Factset and S&P Capital.
Investors are advised to refer through important disclosures made at the last page of the Research Report.