Fedders Lloyd to become a durables company

FEDDERS Lloyd is reviving the Lloyd brand to become a consumer durables company. The Delhi-based BR Punj group company had over the years shifted its business model to commercial airconditioners, a B2B space. It’s now reviving the consumer brand not only for ACs but also for new categories like electronics and other appliances with a dual positioning in the mass-premium and mass-market segments. According to the strategy, Fedders Lloyd would launch airconditioners, microwave ovens, DVD players and LCD televisions under the Lloyd brand as the categories are growing faster than the overall durables industry. Over a period of time, Lloyd would further expand its presence in televisions though restricting itself to the mid-premium segment. The company is planning an initial investment of about Rs 50-60 crore. All products except ACs would be initially imported. Currently, Fedders has two plants in Noida and Himachal Pradesh while the third plant is coming up at Uttarakhand. The company has roped in Pavan Bhargava as president, who was earlier heading Hyundai Electronics in India. At the same time, former Electrolux India marketing executive Sanjeev Wadhwa has joined as the head of sales & marketing. According to Fedders Lloyd chairman and managing director, BR Punj, “Our change in market strategy reflects the developments in the domestic market which has been on a high growth path. This is especially true for home appliances.’’ The last few years saw Fedders Lloyd focusing on commercial airconditioners targeted at institutions like Railways, defence, mining and telecom markets because it was marginalised in the consumer retail space since the late 90s. Fedders Lloyd had in the distant past also sold refrigerators under the Zenith brand which was discontinued. Zenith however, doesn’t form part of its new gameplan. One of the reasons for Fedders Lloyd’s diversification into other product categories is linked to the distribution challenges faced by single product companies. In the recent past many such companies in the durables industry have expanded their brand across categories which helps in pushing products to dealers while capitalising on the brand extension.

Courtesy: EconomicTimes
For more detail on Retail India visit: http://www.retailindia.tv/