Godrej Appliances targets double-digit growth this festive season

 Godrej Appliances targets double-digit growth this festive season
with a slew of new products and attractive schemes

                ~Introduces new range of refrigerators and washing machines

~ Rolls out ‘Dil Se Diwali’ offer with a basket of easy EMI schemes and upto 20% cashback

Godrej Appliances, one of India’s leading manufacturers of Consumer Appliances and amongst the key consumer facing businesses of Godrej & Boyce, flagship company of Godrej group, unveiled its ‘Dil Se Diwali’ festive promotion by launching a range of new products and enticing offers to make this festive season brighter.

With second wave at an end, consumers are looking forward to some celebrations finally, albeit with caution. Appliances are a part and parcel of festive celebrations at home and the season is expected to augur positive purchase sentiments. The company has launched a range of aesthetic glass door direct cool refrigerators, double door frost free refrigerators, and top load washing machines. This is in line with the increased traction witnessed in the premium segments since the last few months and follows the company’s foray into the premium category of dishwashers recently.

Commenting on the festive launches and offers, Mr. Kamal Nandi, Business Head and Executive Vice President – Godrej Appliances, said, “After a difficult year dealing with the pandemic, consumers in India are gearing up to celebrate the festival season. Despite concerns around the third COVID wave, double vaccination should help in driving positive consumer sentiment. Festive season usually contributes 30% of annual sales for us. We are seeing encouraging signs of demand revival and are targeting a double-digit growth rate of 20% plus during this festive season. We believe this season, consumers will celebrate ‘Dil Se Diwali’ with our slew of exciting offers and new introductions.”

The festive season is marked by deals and offers and given the overall economic downturn in multiple sectors due to Covid, festive promotions will also play an even more significant role this year.  In keeping with consumers’ need for liquidity, the company has designed lucrative cash backs upto 20% and Multiple EMI schemes (8/0, 10/2, 12/4 standard EMI schemes, 1 EMI off on 20/5 scheme and 24/4 fixed EMI schemes starting at just Rs. 900). Consumers can also take home a premium Godrej Appliance by paying just ₹1 down payment, creating yet another opportunity for our customer’s delight. Extended warranty is also available in specific categories and segments to ensure that the customer is getting maximum value on his festive purchase. The Dil Se Diwali festive promotion offers will be available till 15^th November across stores. Customers can also avail offers on the company’s e-store at shop.godrejappliances.com.

Furthermore, Mr. Sanjeev Jain, National Sales Head, Godrej Appliances, added, "We are happy to continue the Godrej tradition of bringing joy into the lives of millions of Indians through our value-laden products and further dazzle up the festivities through our thoughtfully designed offers – cashbacks, easy finance schemes with attractive EMI, extended warranty and more is available for our consumers to pick from. With our technologically advanced products exclusively launched for the season, backed with attractive offers we are confident of a good festive run.

Godrej Interio boosts its digital drive to drive richer consumer

 Godrej Interio boosts its digital drive to drive richer consumer experience
~ Witnesses a stupendous increase of 43% through online sales till July-21 compared to last year; targets 40% growth in online sales by the end of F.Y 22 ~

~ 29% of the revenue generated from the Southern markets result from online sales ~

 

 

Godrej & Boyce, the flagship company of the Godrej Group, announced that its business Godrej Interio, India’s leading furniture brand in home and institutional segments has revealed that ‘home storage’ has been the highest selling category through online sales since the Covid-19 pandemic hit India. The company also announced that their Interio division is targeting 40% growth through online sales via its own D2C platform, by F.Y.22 and further eyes 30% growth over the next two years.

 

In line with the global trend in the furniture retail industry, Godrej Interio has been investing heavily in key digital technologies, automation, and processes to build a robust, truly omni-channel, omnipresent furniture brand with the largest footprint across the country.

 

At the backend Godrej Interio introduced ‘Robotic Process Automation’ to automate the processes resulting in speeding up the communication as many team members were working from home. It also implemented technology to reduce the cost of being connected to all stakeholders along with reducing the cost of the supply chain. Whereas on the front end, the company introduced innovative digital tools like visual search on its website to help customers choose the perfect product for their living spaces. Godrej Interio also brought in artificial intelligence (AI) which scans designs, materials, geometrics and recommends products based on the configuration of the home that people have. The 360-degree walkthrough of the store lets consumers zoom in on products and also interact with the store personnel. In addition to this, the company has also brought in a 3D configurator wherein a customer along with the sales team can customize products and visualize how the room looks before finalizing the purchase.

 

Subodh Mehta, Senior Vice President (B2C), Godrej Interio said “The pandemic has pushed brands to improve their online shopping experience for consumers with a renewed thrust to seamlessly integrate technology. Taking cognizance of this change in consumer behaviour, we at Godrej Interio have blended our digital and retail stores to deliver a complete Omni-channel experience to our customers by increasing our penetration through online channels. Our retail strategy has taken a little diversion of bringing in more digital tools at the point of sale to make consumer’s decision-making journey easier. We are also increasing the delivery points from 2,000 pin codes to 5,000 pin codes. We have interior designers who work with customers in helping them visualize the looks once they purchase our furniture and provide design consultancy too. Our user friendly, e-commerce enabled website provides consumers with a great opportunity to discover and purchase our range online.”

 

Godrej Interio plans to bring all of its dealers onto the e-commerce portal so that the customer can directly book orders and it can be delivered to any part of the country from its dealers to customers. It also plans to introduce ‘Consumer Internet of Things’ (CIOT) in products, moving ahead. Earlier last month, Godrej Interio was also conferred the title of India’s Most Desirable Brand Award 2021 by Trust Research Advisory under the ‘Furniture Retail’ category. The brand has taken a giant leap from 186 in 2020 to 38th position this year.

Godrej donates advanced medical refrigerators to

 Godrej donates advanced medical refrigerators to
safeguard Covid-19 vaccines

 

~Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Chennai received specialized Godrej Vaccine Refrigerators and Godrej Medical Freezers to safely store covid-19 vaccines.

 

Godrej & Boyce, the flagship company of the Godrej Group, announced recently that its business, Godrej Appliances, one of India’s leading consumer durables company, has donated specialized 225-litre vaccine refrigerators and 200-litre medical freezers to the Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Chennai to strengthen their preparedness towards tackling the covid immunization drive.

 

Godrej has been partnering the ongoing covid vaccination drive by the government, with its made in India, advanced cold storage solutions for vaccines and life-saving supplies.

 

 

The ten units of vaccines refrigerators and ten units of medical freezers were recently handed over to the Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Chennai in a formal ceremony. Mr. A. M. Visvanathan, Executive Vice President – Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd. handed over the units to Dr J. Radhakrishnan IAS., Principal Secretary, Government of Tamil Nadu.

 

This was part of the Godrej & Boyce’s COVID Outreach initiative, under which the brand is donating 40 units of advanced medical refrigerators to various hospitals and public health centres pan India. Godrej & Boyce, the flagship company of the diversified Godrej group, is widely known for its commitment towards nation building and society.

Air purifying ACs, convertible refrigerators in demand with

Air purifying ACs, convertible refrigerators in demand with
rising mercury in Chennai: Flipkart Insights

With the temperatures soaring across the country, customers are increasingly seeking cooling appliances to create a comfortable environment at home. This has also led to the rise of various new age cooling appliances to cater to health and hygiene requirements of customers.

According to insights by Flipkart, the current heat wave has significantly increased the demand for cooling appliances which includes ACs, refrigerators, coolers and fans across the country. In Chennai, the overall cooling appliances segment saw a growth of 1.2x with ACs, seasonal appliances (coolers and fans) and refrigerators seeing 1.3x, 1.3x and 1.1x growth respectively.

Increased focus on health and hygiene and cost savings have led to customers opting for appliances with anti-bacterial, air purification and energy-efficient features. While these functionalities existed even before, it is witnessing greater traction among customers with the growing focus on the air quality. A consumer survey conducted on the Flipkart app also confirmed this shift with a large number of surveyed customers preferring built-in air purifiers as one of the top functionalities in their ACs. This has led to more brands launching ACs with similar functionalities including Samsung, Haier, Whirlpool, Daikin, Bluestar, Voltas and Godrej who are expanding their selection of cooling appliances on Flipkart.

As far as refrigerators are concerned, there has been an increase in the demand for energy efficient and convertible variants offering higher storage refrigerators along with multi-functional features such as curd maker. As the usage of freezer is limited in India as compared with other parts of the world, convertible options are witnessing greater adoption which transforms the freezer section into a normal fridge. This apart, customers are seeking appliances with higher storage space as they continue to work and learn from home for a longer period of time. Furthermore, a higher percentage of customers are opting for replacement options while purchasing a refrigerator since the launch of product replacement construct on Flipkart. Also, there has been an almost 20% increase in the adoption of No Cost EMI in the past one year, highlighting the growing importance of affordability for customers. Through these constructs, Flipkart is able to help customers to upgrade their appliances in an affordable manner.

In addition to this, customers are also opting for energy efficient ACs and refrigerators to save on electricity bills and reduce cost of operations. While the former saw a jump of upto 40% in the demand for 5 star high capacity, high energy efficient AC's, refrigerators adoption too reflected a similar trend.

Interestingly, the above mentioned trends are not only concentrated in metros but smaller cities and tier 2 and 3 cities are also contributing to this growth. This clearly indicates a change in sentiment and buying preference in the smaller towns.

Hari G. Kumar, Vice President – Large Appliances, Flipkart, said, “The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically transformed the priorities for customers who are now looking for appliances with air purification, expandable storage and energy efficiency functionalities. This is indicative of maturing of the cooling appliances market in India which is expected to witness significant growth this year. As a homegrown e-commerce marketplace with a nuanced understanding of customers evolving needs, we will continue to collaborate with leading brands and sellers partners to bring the best products to the millions of Indians customers at their doorsteps, no matter how far they are.”

Godrej Consumer Products insures workforce of more than

Godrej Consumer Products insures workforce of more than
4000 personnel against COVID-19

                                                                       

 Continuing its efforts to empower stakeholders against COVID-19, Godrej Consumer Products Ltd, a leading emergent markets company, has insured over 4000 extended workforce part of the supply and distribution chain in India. The medical insurance covers personnel on channel partners’ payrolls or contracted by them to ensure smooth business operations for GCPL. For medical hospitalization or treatment of COVID-19, each employee is entitled to cashless treatment or reimbursement of medical expenses up to INR 50,000.

This is a pioneering industry-first initiative taken by a corporate to cover such a large number of personnel. The medical insurance under Digit Illness Group Insurance Policy is provided by Go Digit General Insurance, a new age general insurance company with a mission to make insurance simple. The 4000+ personnel base who are covered under medical insurance are contract labours, delivery teams, carrying and forwarding agents, loaders and unloaders, and logistic teams including drivers. This is in addition to 2675 permanent employees of GCPL who already have medical benefits.

Commenting on this major step taken by the company, Sunil Kataria, CEO – India & SAARC, Godrej Consumer Products Ltd, said, “COVID-19 has posed great threat to public health in India.  Be it permanent, contracted or third-party, GCPL has commitment towards all its extended workforce. We value their efforts, and their safety is of prime importance to us. Therefore, we have undertaken this initiative to insure the workforce of over 4000 personnel who are the backbone of our supply and distribution chain. We have established a comprehensive health and safety monitoring system in all our operating locations. Through a culture of proactive and preventive behavior, we will continuously review our policy to keep them in line with current requirements and needs of our workforce.”

Jasleen Kohli, Chief Distribution Officer, Digit Insurance, said, “Our mission at Digit is to simplify insurance & to create products that people really need. Given, the current global situation, offering a cover for COVID-19 was the need of the hour and we are glad that Godrej shares this vision with us for their employees. The product covers not just hospitalization expenses including ICU Rent & Room Rent but also Pre/Post Hospitalization & Ambulance Charges for a positively tested COVID-19 patient. The idea is to handle these unpredictable times in the best way possible, through simplified insurance as an instrument. Also, our entire claims process is ‘Zero-touch’, which is required at this time, as we accept audio claims instead of claim forms, soft-copies instead of hard-copies for proofs and have a 24*7 customer care assistance, again completely online.”

Godrej Consumer Products has always been committed to maintain both lives and livelihoods. As its manufacturing units are functioning, the company has ensured that employees are following hygiene and adequate social distancing practices. Factory personnel are given face masks along with provisions of sanitisers, staggered shifts, access control and thermal screening.

GCPL has set up a daily COVID-19 allowance for all its factory and contract employees. A one-month food package containing essential products like rice, flour, pulses, oil, salt, among other items, is also given to them. GCPL has ensured no deduction in wages of contract workers and is closely working with contractors to ensure this policy is followed as a protocol.