NEW DELHI: In its bid to comply with the recommendations made by McKinsey, The Rs 480 crore Electrolux Kelvinator Ltd (EKL) is all set to reposition and rebrand itself. The company also upped its adsepnd by 5-6 per cent of its total turnover last financial year (ending December 2003) as against 4.5 per cent, the previous year. For this the company is aggressively reaching its target customers, primary among which, are women. And to reflect the importance of women in using its products EKL came out with four new commercials on the TV in the last one year. It is also in the process of getting some new commercials made, which would further highlight the role of women in today’s world.
“In the second phase of implementation of the McKinsey report, which was given a year and a half back we are aggressively looking at rebranding and repositioning,” Rajeev Karwal, managing director and CEO, EKL told FE. While 2003 was for restructuring and rightsizing, 2004 and 2005 for repositioning and rebranding and 2005 for achieving a turnaround. “And we are very much in line with their recommendations,” Mr Karwal added.
The company also launched its range of microwaves two weeks back and starting with 10,000 units in eastern and northern India and is all set to go all India by the end of February. All these microwaves are with dealers now. The company calls the product maxiwave, which is a 2.5 GHz frequency product patented by Electrolux worldwide. Mr Karwal also claims that this is an upgardation over traditional microwaves as it does 100 per cent uniform cooking while retaining the food’s nutrients. Besides, the large turntable allows one to cook more at one go. The microwaves are imported from the companies subsidiaries in Thailand and China and are priced between Rs 8,500-12,500.
EKL is also all set roll out its air conditioners, which according to Mr Karwal, will have unique features. Not ready to divulge any more on ACs he said that they would be competitively priced. “EKL believes in giving value to the customers and that is what we have kept in mind while pricing the microwaves and will be considered while pricing the ACs as well.
Having targeted women as its customers, EKL in November 2003, introduced Oxyswing, a 220 litre direct cool refrigerator model with peddle. The idea is that even if a woman’s hands are full she can open it with her foot. In Q4 2002 the company had introduced Aquaflow in 175 and 220 litre direct cool segments where the water dispenser is outside the refrigerator.
From financialexpress.com