With the hours of power cuts in a day far outstripping the availability, consumer appliance and gadget showrooms in southern districts are reporting a decreasing level of sales, which combined with a huge spike in operating costs was hitting them hard.
Dealers are now unable to attract consumers with the huge discounts of earlier years as any savings was being offset by increased operational costs. As a result, sales of gadgets was down by 20 to 30 per cent this year, said A. Veerabadran, a partner in Venus electronics, which has 22 showrooms in places such as Mayiladuthurai, Madurai, Dinidgul, Kumbakonam and Tiruchi besides Chennai.
Speaking to The Hindu , he said, “Leave alone sales, even customer walk-in has declined considerably as people do not want to buy an electronic gadget which they cannot use in view of the 14 to 16 hours of power cut every day.”
With the recent hike of diesel price by Rs. 5 per litre, the showrooms are spending heavily on running the generators, he added.
K.P.C. Kumaran, Territory Manager of Viveks, which has a chain of showrooms, said that of the 12 hours of business per day, the showrooms were spending seven hours on power from generators, which was economically very taxing and driving up the cost of running a business.
Even though sales of essential items like TVs were better, the sales of induction stoves and microwave ovens had plummeted by 80 per cent this year, which he attributed to the power cuts.
A.N. Muthu Kumar, proprietor of Tower Vision, which has two showrooms in North Veli Street in Madurai, said that the huge power cuts was dampening the entire economy of the southern districts.
As such, he said that many dealers in the region were fearful of a weak Deepavali season as many workers might get reduced bonuses and would be unable to splurge on new TVs and washing machines.
Combined with a 20 per cent spike in operating costs, he said that the showrooms were already witnessing a sharp decline in sales.
Opportunity in crisis
Despite an overwhelming negative economic outlook, an entrepreneur is looking at the power crisis as an economic opportunity,
B. Benit, managing director of Benit and Co, which has four showrooms in the city, said that this power shortage could be used to push for alternative technology such as solar-powered inverters.
“A total of 32 foreign companies are entering the Indian solar market for both commercial use in industries and for the domestic market. Through the economies of scale, the cost of solar-power inverters could be brought down to Rs. 50,000 from the present Rs. 90,000.”
Stating that he plans to introduce solar inverters soon, he said that the sales of conventional inverters had already shot through the roof. New technologies that combine both wind and solar power in one hybrid system have also hit the market, he added.
