Samsung Electronics is looking at 50 per cent growth in market share for its air-conditioners (ACs) by the end of 2013, even as the company focuses only on split-ACs, having exited the window market from the start of this year.
The consumer electronics major has also set a similar target for refrigerators, with the launch of its first digital inverter series of frost-free refrigerators here on Wednesday.
“We believe that with the exit from the window-AC market, we can accelerate the market towards split air-conditioners.
“While we have lost a little market share due to the exit, our share in the air-conditioner market right now is around 13 per cent,” said K Mahesh, Vice- President, Home Appliances.
“We are also hoping that our frost-free refrigerators will contribute 35 per cent of our total refrigerator sales this year,” he added.
It launched 29 new models of split air-conditioners, and 26 new models of digital inverter, frost-free refrigerators for the current year.
Right now, Samsung India’s plant at Sriperumbudur has a capacity to roll out 1.2 million refrigerators and 450,000 split air-conditioners, although it imports refrigerator compressors from South Korea. The company is planning to expand its distribution network in smaller cities by another 380 outlets to around 600/700 total outlets this year.
