Refrigerators' demand up 17 pc in 8 months of this year:GfK

Economic slowdown notwithstanding, demand for refrigerators went up by 17 per cent in the first eight months of this year against the corresponding period last year, said market research firm GfK.
"The industry expanded only 5 per cent in 2013 due to several factors such as currency fluctuations, hike in prices of materials as well as fuel which impacted consumer spending," GfK India Home & Lifestyle Account Director Ushpreet Singh Bawa said.
He further said: "The market has improved markedly and is on an uptrend now as the rise in average disposable income of households combined with changing consumer lifestyle is helping to drive growth, especially in the high-end segment".

Out of the two main types of refrigerator that exists in the Indian market, single door or direct cool segment dominates and continues to remain popular, accounting for three in every four refrigerators purchased last year, GfK said.
The company added that there is a growing demand for high-end, higher capacity frost-free refrigerators.
In the first eight months of this year, frost-free refrigerators with capacity greater than 400 litres registered a surge of more than 25 percent in volume and 36 percent in value, it added.
GfK retail track for refrigerator across urban India reported over 300 new models introduced in the first eight months of 2014. Nearly two out of three of the new launches were frost-free models, of which around 50 of them were above 400 litres in capacity, it said.