Lloyd to hike ad spends, eyes 10% share of AC market

Despite being an established name in the air conditioning space, Lloyd's market growth has been stunted by inadequate branding

New Delhi-based Lloyd Electric & Engineering Ltd, known for its wide range of air conditioning (AC) products, is looking to reboot strategies to grab a bigger share of the room AC market in the country.

The maker of consumer durables has firmed up plans to scale up its spends on branding to take its market share in room AC segment to 10 per cent by this fiscal end from eight per cent presently. Despite being one of the oldest and established names in the air conditioning space, Lloyd's market growth has been stunted by inadequate branding.

"In this fiscal, we will devote Rs 60 crore on ad spending of all our products, higher than Rs 40 crore that we did in last fiscal. Our aim is to take our market share in room AC segment to more than 10 per cent by the end of this fiscal. Also, in calendar 2015, Lloyd has targeted to sell 400,000 room ACs compared to 270,000 units in 2014", said Nipun Singhal, director, Lloyd Electric & Engineering Ltd.

"Since we cannot match the ad budget of bigger brands, we believe its our after sales service that will differentiate us and give us an edge over our rivals", he said.

Singhal said, Lloyd's focus will be on consumer durables in the next three years where the company will consolidate its position.

Lloyd is also eyeing to scale up its exports of air conditioners and heat exchangers.

"Presently, we are exporting nearly 35,000 units of ACs every year to West Asia and North African nations. We are eyeing the US market for exporting heat exchangers of which we are the largest manufacturer. In the heat exchangers market, Lloyd has 50 per cent share in the country", said Singhal.

Lloyd presently has 17 facilities across the country for manufacturing of ACs and air conditioning products. It has firmed up plans to set up another AC manufacturing plant at Ranipet near Chennai. The facility to manufacture ACs is expected to be ready by December 2015 and it will have the capacity to roll out 200,000 units every year.

In Odisha, Lloyd has a presence through 140 dealer outlets and 32 service centres. The company has a market share of 15 per cent in the room AC segment, higher than its pan India share of eight per cent.