Local makers elbow out foreign brands

Bangladesh’s home appliances makers have captured the local market in just four years, winning over customers with affordable prices, extended warranty periods and reliable after-sales services.

Light Castle Partners had put the market size at $251.41 million in 2017 when local brands produced a small number of products. 

The market is growing at 30-35 per cent annually, riding on an increasing purchase capacity and changing lifestyle.

“The current market size is $500 million,” said Managing Director Mohammad Naveed Ahmed of Miyako Appliance Limited Bangladesh, one of the top-selling brands for electronic home appliances in Bangladesh.

Consumer electronics include television, refrigerators, air conditioners, and home appliances, including washing machines, microwaves, blenders and grinders, rice cookers, etc.

Leading local brands include Walton, Vision, MyOne, Jamuna, Minister, Kiam, Hamko, and Nova. Dominant international brands include Panasonic, Sharp, Philips, Samsung, LG, Simper, Hitachi, Palson, Siemens, and Toshiba.

“Now, more than 20 local home appliances makers are competing in the market and 10 brands hold over 70 per cent share,” claimed Salim Ullah, Director (marketing) of Jamuna Electronics and Automobiles.

He said that the country’s electronics industry assembles almost everything the local consumers need, including smartphones and laptops.  Last year, Jamuna Electronics sold more than 5 lakh units of home appliances. Walton said its blender and grinder sale doubled to 4,10,000 units while it sold over 42,000 washing machines — more than twice the figure from a year before.

“Changing lifestyle, increasing purchasing power, and also affordable prices boosted the market,” said Al Imran, chief business officer of Walton Home Appliances product.

In its annual report, Walton said its home appliances products volume grew 72.38 per cent in the 2020-2021 financial year. Officials of MyOne Electronics Industries Ltd, Nova Electronics and Home Appliance, and Jamuna Electronics said their home appliances products grew between 30 and 40 per cent last year.

A Nova Electronics official said blenders and grinders sold more than any other appliance in 2021. Jamuna and MyOne officials said they had sold more than half a million home appliances each.

One Ali Hossain, who went to the Baitul Mukarram electrical household appliance market with his wife, said they were looking to buy products of local brands. “They are affordable and offer good quality,” he said.

Home appliances demand rising

According to the Market Mapping of Modern Cooking Appliances, Bangladesh study (2021), the rising middle and affluent class (MAC) consumers have played a pivotal role in the growth of Bangladesh’s electronic consumer appliances industry. MAC population tends to have a higher demand for different items, including consumer durables.

An increase in working women and nuclear families also contributed to the increasing demand for automation in household chores and home appliances.

“Seventy per cent households are located in semi-urban and rural areas. Increase in household income and large-scale electrification are driving the demand for home appliances,” said Salim Ullah, Director (marketing) of Jamuna Electronics and Automobiles.

EMI (Equal Monthly Installments) and low-interest credit card schemes played big roles in turning consumer electronics products, once considered “high-end luxury goods”, into regular household necessities.

“Urban areas have seen a rise in nuclear families and working couples. This has spurred the demand for home appliances,” said Managing Director Mohammad Naveed Ahmed of Miyako Appliance Limited Bangladesh.

Kamaruzzaman Kamal, director of marketing at Pran RFL, said home appliances are still at the initial stage and there’s massive room to grow. 

“The demand is gradually increasing with an improved standard of living, increasing per capita income, as well as economic growth,” he said.

“The future of this industry is very bright.”