With rural lighting, Onida starts leveraging its Ego

Mirc Electronics Ltd, the maker of Onida brand of consumer durables, plans to improve rural penetration through its forays into newer product categories under its Ego brand, K Sriram, vice president-sales, marketing & services told DNA.

The firm has launched LED (light emitting diode) -based lighting products under Ego, a brand that sold low-cost television sets in rural areas till now.

The company plans to target towns with population below 1 lakh for these products and will launch solar energy-based LED lighting products soon.

“The opportunity in lighting is immense, especially in rural India, where LED lights can replace kerosene bulbs. We will look at any product or category that has rural opportunity,” Sriram said. The firm is looking at revenues worth `250 crore from Ego, which is growing at 20% YoY.

Mirc is also launching exclusive Onida retail stores in the country, starting with the launch of 10-12 outlets in small cities this year.

At the company level, Sriram said, Mirc has identified three product categories, namely, mobile phones, air conditioners and LCD televisions that they will extensively focus on over two-three years and gain market shares.

In the mobile phone category, the company now has 1.3% market share in comparison to the 0.3% at the time of launch. It is eyeing a 2% market share in the category by the end of this
year.

For urban markets, the company is focusing on LCD and LED television category to fuel growth. It currently holds a 4% market share in high-end televisions and wants to grow it to 8% by the end of this year. Similarly, in residential air conditioners, where it has a 10% market share, Sriram said the company was targeting
15% market share in two-three years.

“We have innovations lined up in mobile phones, LCD televisions and air conditioners,” Sriram said adding that the company was going to launch 25 models in television during Diwali.

The company is looking at a 35% turnover growth this year. Sriram said that the September-October period is crucial as 40% of the year’s sales take place during this period.

The company is looking to spend `150 crore on marketing this year compared to the `50 crore spent two years ago and `100 crore last year.