Usha International President, Electric Fans and PumpsBusiness, Rohit Mathur, said the company was witnessing a hugedemand for its products in these markets. "We are very bullish on our expansion in these cities-themain reason being the growth consumption patterns, wherecustomers go deeper within the categories", he told . He said 70 per cent of customers in Tier II, III andrural markets have always featured high on Usha's prioritylist for business expansion. "We feel that every customer, irrespective of whether heis working in a metro or in Tier II or tier III or at distantrural village are potential customers... The potential of Tier II and III markets to contribute tosales of a brand is immense," he said. Noting that the company has been witnessing huge demandfor its products nationwide, he said they were looking atdoubling revenues from rural markets in two-three years.
"Currently the rural markets contribute about 25 per centof the revenue and we aim to double this in two to threeyears," he said.
To a query, he claimed that Usha International has 21 percent market share in the fans category and had also doubledits marketing spend to Rs 10 crore. They were investing in various retail initiatives,including in-shop presence and branding, he said.
He said the company was 'aggressively' pushing sales tobig retail chains to strengthen its retail footprint. "Traditional distribution accounts for close to 90 percentof revenue and now the company has drawn up a strategy toincrease retail share rapidly", he said. He said Usha International has 51 company owned andoperated branded retail stores in 38 cities and wereexperimenting with the idea of franchisees to expand in TierII and III cities. "Once this model is established, we can then go in for amajor expansion in raising the number of stores", he said. Mathur was here recently to unveil Usha Race Chrome rangeof fans along with company's brand ambassador and India'sfirst Formula 1 driver Narain Karthikeyan.
"After the successful launch of Usha Racer Fans with him(Narain Karthikeyan) last year, we are now launching UshaRacer Chrome.
The Usha Racer series we are focusing on ultra high speedof 400 RPM with glossy power coated superior finish fordurability and high lift angle blades", he said. He said the company has introduced 12 new models, pricedbetween Rs 1,850 and Rs 9,000, strengthening its fan business. VIJ APRAPR APR