Walton fridge sales up by 30pc in Jan-July

The country’s electronic giant ‘Walton’ registered 30.29 per cent fridge sales growth in the first seven months of the current year compared to the same period in the last year.

According to Walton, the production of fridges in Walton Hi-Tech Industries also increased by about 30 per cent from in the period of January to July of 17 against the production of the corresponding period of 2016. 

The local brand set a target of selling 1.7 million units of fridges in 2017, which is about 24.52 per cent higher than the fridge sales in 2016. Thus, Walton witnessed a higher growth in fridge sales against the target growth, according to a press release. 

Walton authorities said they have been able to retain more than 70 per cent share of the domestic market of refrigerators for the last couple of years. This year, the demands for Walton fridges are also going up day by day for bringing world’s latest technology based products like huge power saving non-frost fridges with inverter technology’s compressors and frost fridges with tempered glass door. 

They also cited several reasons – use of the world's latest technologies in manufacturing refrigerators with the use of inverter technology’s compressors, use of environment friendly R600a gas as refrigerant – alongside attractive design of fridges, affordable prices and best after-sales services behind the success in fridge markets. 

Walton has released various non-frost as well as several models of tempered glass door refrigerators equipped with huge power-efficient inverter technology in the local market this year, which received enormous response from customers. Overall, the refrigerator sales of the local brand registered 30.29 per cent growth during the first seven months (June to July) of this year compared to the same period in the last year.

Sources at Walton said the country’s electronics giant has targeted to sell 1.7 million units of refrigerators this year, which is 24.50 per cent higher than the previous year. However, the local brand has achieved more sales than the target in the first seven months of the year along with nearly 30 per cent increase of production in its own factory at Chandra in Gazipur. Earlier in 2015 and 2016, Walton sold 0.96 and 1.365 million units of fridges respectively. 

Expressing her hope of exceeding the target of sales, Eva Rezwana, Chief Coordinator of Walton Marketing, said the sales growth of refrigerators is higher than the target and the growth will increase in the current month as Eid-ul-Azha approaches and the Eid season is considered as the peak time for fridge sales. 

Amdadul Hoque Sarker, Head of Walton Marketing, said Walton maintains the top position in terms of market demand and trust of customers, which led the brand to achieve the record of more than 0.1 million refrigerator sales in the first day of the current month. He hoped that, this year, Walton will also retain the absolute dominance in the local market. 

Ashraful Ambia, Executive Director (Sourcing Engineering Dept) of Walton, said, the world’s latest technology is being added to Walton fridges while they are being manufactured with the assurance of preserving healthy food at 43-degree Celsius temperature for Bangladesh. Walton is the only brand in Bangladesh that achieved ‘Five Star’ energy rating certificate from Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institute (BSTI) for manufacturing high standard power-efficient refrigerators following the ‘Bangladesh Standards 1850:2012’ set by BSTI.

He also said more than 50 per cent energy will be saved for the addition of Intelligent Inverter Technology-based compressors in Walton fridges. Besides, worldwide recognised CFC and HFC free R600a refrigerant gas are being used in the compressors of Walton fridges, which protect the environment along with saving energy. 

Walton authorities said their refrigerators and freezers are released in the market after checking quality at ISO-certified NUSDAT-UTS Lab, which has been recognised by the Bangladesh Accreditation Board. Walton is currently manufacturing and marketing more than one hundred models of frost, non-frost and deep freezers, among which are 16 models of intelligent inverter refrigerators and 6 models of tempered glass door frost fridges of different capacities. Various models of Walton brand’s frost fridges are available from Tk 11,600 to 35,300 while tempered glass door refrigerators cost Tk 28,500 to 36,500 and the huge energy saving inverter fridges from 50,990 to 61,900 BDT.  

Mentionable, Walton is the only brand in Bangladesh which has ISO certified Service Management System to deliver fast and quality after-sales services at 67 service centres across the country along with more than 300 service points where 2,500 engineers and technicians are working. Walton is also providing customers home service for fridges which customers can avail all over the year by just dialling 16267. One-year replacement guarantee for Walton refrigerators as well as maximum 10 years of replacement guarantee for compressors is available.