CTV players crackle and pop with discounts

In order to cash in on the festive season, consumer electronics majors - Mirc Electronics Ltd, Videocon International Ltd and Philips India - plan to offer discounts and freebies to woo consumers and increase their marketshare. Mirc Electronics plans to offer aggressive discounts in prices of its colour televisions (CTV) models ranging from 21-inch to 28-inch.

The discount, which is restricted to six-seven branches in major metros, will be up to Rs 4,000 on the purchase of Onida’s CTV models. The price of its CTVs ranges from Rs 7,990 to Rs 29,990.

The scheme-effective October 1, 2000 - also offers an additional warranty scheme and a free gift scheme whereby customers get a guarantee of five years, say dealers.

According to Mirc Electronics chief operating officer G Sundar: “At the retail end, the company expects to increase the sales volumes of CTVs from six lakh to nine lakh by 2000-2001. The company expects the dealership to grow from 6,000 to 10,000 across the major cities during the year.”

The CTV market growth is expected to rise from 25 per cent last year to 35 per cent in the current year. Onida launched its Italian designer Guliano Bellini series of 21-inch CTVs in July 2000. The scheme is also applicable to this series which comes in three colours with front panels made of special finishes of wood, arc and brush. Onida’s marketshare in the five million CTV market stands at 13.5 per cent.

Aiwa International Ltd launched a 24-month zero per cent interest loan consumer scheme in September. According to an Aiwa official: “The basic aim behind these consumer schemes is to advance the sales. In a bid to increase market penetration, the company has capitalised the demand of its products by introducing a zero per cent interest loan scheme with the payment being carried out through monthly and daily instalments.”

The scheme is applicable on some of its CTV models in 21-inch - 2150 (Rs 17,500), 219 (Rs 13,390), 2119 (Rs 15,000) - and also its 14-inch CTV priced at Rs 8,750. According to dealers, the scheme involves customers to pay an initial amount of Rs 3,995, either in cash or in cheque, and stagger payment of the balance amount - Rs 729 per month - for the next 19 months.

Philips India is also planning to join the free gift bandwagon on CTVs and audio systems for the festive season. On the purchase of an 20-inch Philips’ CTV, customers will get one electric iron free. The discount is available in all the branches in major cities. The CTV prices range from Rs 12,000 to Rs 8 lakh.
Further, on the purchase of Philips’ audio systems, customers will get free gifts depending on the volumes. Customers buying an audio system with a higher volume would get a VCD free, whereas those buying with a lower volume would get free audio cassettes. On the purchase of Philips’ mini-systems, customers will get one PC and multi-media speakers free of cost.

The scheme, which began on October 1 this festive season and ends on November 15, also offers a card scheme under which customers making CTV/audio purchases are asked to fill up slogans on special cards. For the best slogans, the company has set aside four cars, six bikes and about a 100 CDs as giveaways, city dealers said.

Videocon International is already offering scratch card schemes to customers on the purchase of CTVs, dealers said. Under this, customers buying Videocon CTV get a free gift beginning from one gram gold coin to 100 gm gold coin on scratching the card. The price of its CTVs ranges from Rs 13,500 to Rs 40,000.

Mona Mehta

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