Starting
in 1983 with servicing air conditioners, Cold Point Pvt Ltd has
today emerged as the largest dealers in Air conditioners in Chennai.
The brands they sell include National, General, Kenstar, Videocon,
Daikin, Whirlpool and Westing House. According to Captain
S Seshadri, Director - Sales and Marketing, Cold Point, 'National'
is the most preferred brand in Chennai. And out of the two types,
the Window-type air conditioner and the Split-type air conditioner,
85% of the sales is attributed to the Window-type and 15% to the
Split-type. But slowly the demand for Split-type is going up, it
might go up to 25%, in the near future.
The advantage of split type is of course low noise levels, it is
less cumbersome, it does not involve cutting or breaking up the
place for installation. It is however, more expensive, it costs
almost double the price of a window type air conditioner. Though
the Window model rules the roost today, they might become nonexistent
in seven to eight years time. In few more years the Split type will
become more popular, says, Captain Seshadri. So who goes in for
Split air conditioners nowadays? People who are aware of the comfort
levels, who are looking at noise levels, aesthetics and who do not
mind the difference in cost. The cassette type air conditioner from
'Daikin' is a new model launched about eight months back.
It goes into the ceiling. It's becoming hugely popular among people
who are not very price conscious.
70%
of Cold Point's customers are individuals, which includes households,
small business establishments and traders. The rest of the 30% are
commercial establishments like offices, hotels, restaurants, large
retail outlets and showrooms. Earlier on, the major portion of the
customers used to be from the high income bracket. But now the share
of the middle income segment has gone up to 80%. The reason for
this being the rise in the number of families with double income.
Most people are today working in air-conditioned offices, they commute
in air-conditioned cars and so they want to put an air conditioner
atleast in the bedroom, if not for the whole house. "Previously,
60% of our customers used to be repeat customers or customers who
were referred to by old customers. But this year, there was a change
in trend, 70% of our buyers were new", says Captain Seshadri.
Chennai alone buys around 27,000 to 28,000 air conditioning units
in an year. The rest of Tamil Nadu buys what Chennai buys. Chennai
is followed by Coimbatore in terms of volume of consumption.
The typical Chennai customer, according to Captain Seshadri makes
a lot of enquiry, goes to a few shops before arriving at a decision.
He or she is very service conscious and price conscious. The price
difference between the grey market and the organised market is about
Rs 3,000/-, so the dependence on the grey market has come down.
Cold Point offers both installation service and after-sales service.
They have a 3000 plus square feet area of service station at Shenoy
Nagar, which is manned by 82 technicians. It is the largest strength
of technical support when it comes to air conditioners in Chennai.
Any call made before 3 p.m. in a given day is attended to, on that
day itself. Cold Point has around 4800 machines, that come under
their Annual Maintenance Contract (AMC). The first year there
are four free services, and after that the AMC will come into place.
They give three dry and one wet service. When it comes to maintenance,
the minimum the user can do is, clean the filters every 10 days,
says Captain Seshadri.
This
year Cold Point expects to sell about 2,700 to 3,000 units, and
roughly about 3,600 units next year. The growth rate stands at 25%,
but this year the demand was stagnant at 10%. The reason for this
stagnant demand is the general slow down in the economy. The stock
market has gone down and software companies are not doing well,
there is negative growth in that sector. "For the next two
years we are not expecting very high level of growth in demand.
Only if people decide that they want protection from pollution,
there might be some growth in the market", says Captain
Seshadri. So next to heat, it is pollution that drives people
to buy air conditioners. Many manufacturers are going in for herbal
filters and high micron level filters, in order to solve this problem.
Sales peak between the second week of April and the third week
of May. Air-conditioners are no longer considered a luxury item,
they have become a need. Now its more like, its hot, go buy an air
conditioner. And what about electricity bills? Manufacturers today
are becoming very conscious about power consumption, they are trying
to bring in compressors that will be energy efficient. If you run
the air conditioner for 8 hours, you would run up an electricity
bill of Rs 600 to 700 in any given day. But this is not something
that is deterring the buyers. Nowadays many financial institutions
are offering loans for the purchase of air conditioners, with 0%
interest. The interest cost is absorbed by the manufacturer and
the dealer.
1:28:40 AM 
Starting
in 1983 with servicing air conditioners, Cold Point Pvt Ltd has
today emerged as the largest dealers in Air conditioners in Chennai.
The brands they sell include National, General, Kenstar, Videocon,
Daikin, Whirlpool and Westing House. According to Captain
S Seshadri, Director - Sales and Marketing, Cold Point, 'National'
is the most preferred brand in Chennai. And out of the two types,
the Window-type air conditioner and the Split-type air conditioner,
85% of the sales is attributed to the Window-type and 15% to the
Split-type. But slowly the demand for Split-type is going up, it
might go up to 25%, in the near future.
70%
of Cold Point's customers are individuals, which includes households,
small business establishments and traders. The rest of the 30% are
commercial establishments like offices, hotels, restaurants, large
retail outlets and showrooms. Earlier on, the major portion of the
customers used to be from the high income bracket. But now the share
of the middle income segment has gone up to 80%. The reason for
this being the rise in the number of families with double income.
Most people are today working in air-conditioned offices, they commute
in air-conditioned cars and so they want to put an air conditioner
atleast in the bedroom, if not for the whole house. "Previously,
60% of our customers used to be repeat customers or customers who
were referred to by old customers. But this year, there was a change
in trend, 70% of our buyers were new", says Captain Seshadri.
Chennai alone buys around 27,000 to 28,000 air conditioning units
in an year. The rest of Tamil Nadu buys what Chennai buys. Chennai
is followed by Coimbatore in terms of volume of consumption. 
This
year Cold Point expects to sell about 2,700 to 3,000 units, and
roughly about 3,600 units next year. The growth rate stands at 25%,
but this year the demand was stagnant at 10%. The reason for this
stagnant demand is the general slow down in the economy. The stock
market has gone down and software companies are not doing well,
there is negative growth in that sector. "For the next two
years we are not expecting very high level of growth in demand.
Only if people decide that they want protection from pollution,
there might be some growth in the market", says Captain
Seshadri. So next to heat, it is pollution that drives people
to buy air conditioners. Many manufacturers are going in for herbal
filters and high micron level filters, in order to solve this problem.
