Pollution has touched record levels in Delhi and is a matter of huge concern for both government and common citizens across the country. The toxic smog level of particulate matter 2.5 over Delhi touched 517 micrograms per cubic metre, this is 10 times more than the safe level.
The air quality in Delhi has been deteriorating steadily but the state has never seen the pollution levels reach to the extent as seen this year. Government is taking stern measures to control the situation - shutting down schools to prevent children from respiratory diseases, stalling construction across the city, reducing the presence of vehicles on the road and preventing farmers from burning crop wastage.
However, the situation has given fillip to the air purifier category as there is an imminent need for air purifiers at home as well as across the city in to breathe fresh air. Air purifier manufacturers are already witnessing a spike in the sales in Delhi and surrounding areas.
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Brands such as Xiaomi, Eureka Forbes, Blueair (HUL), Panasonic, Honeywell and Sharp said that they had seen a multi-fold rise in demand for air purifiers in the recent week. Taking cue from the situation, these air purifier brands have amplified their ad campaigns for air purifiers across different mediums to attract consumers. They have launched a flurry of ads in major newspapers of Delhi and are targeting potential customers on digital also.
Syed Moonis Alvi, Business Head Purifiers and SHA, Panasonic India said, "We are increasing our ad spends on Air Purifiers. We are planning enough budgets in digital marketing, search engine optimisation, ecommerce platform promotions, RWA activities, Mall promotions and in-shop promotions in major retail outlets. The current market size of air purifiers is 1.2 - 1.5 lakh units in India. The industry has witnessed 20-30% growth and is expected to get almost double this year, in comparison to last year."
He further added, "Pollution levels have reached alarming levels and air purifiers are witnessing a remarkable increase in sales. Panasonic has achieved a total sales of Rs 2 crore in October 2017, with 20-25% jump from last year, and are targeting sales of Rs 7-8 crore till December 2017. We are at 8% market share and hope to achieve 10% market share by the end of 2017-18."
The advertising has resulted higher online/offline enquires for air purifiers in and around Delhi over the past week.
A Xiaomi spokesperson said that the Mi Air Purifier 2 has seen eight times rise in sales in the just 24 hours on its Mi.com site and on online partner such as Flipkart and Amazon. While a Blueair spokesperson is quoted claiming that sales of their air purifiers have gone up by 50 times in the last 2-3 days in comparison to a week earlier.
Category Growth
The air purifier market in India was pegged at Rs 200 crore in 2016, it is expected to reach Rs 1,400 crore by 2021, as per a report. The latter also estimated that the category will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 33% during 2017-2022.
Eureka Forbes is the market leader in the category with the maximum market share in terms of revenue generated followed by Panasonic and Sharp. Apart from these major companies, there are several other companies competing in the market such as, LG, Philips and Kent which constitutes minimally to the market share in the air purifier market in India.
Air purifiers come in the price range from Rs 9,000 to Rs 36,000 for different brands depending on the power and features. Up until a few years ago, air purifiers was a niche niche segment, but now it is poised to be a large category in India. From just 2-3 brands two years back, it has now grown to over 7 brands currently in the Indian market.
There is no doubt that the category offers a huge scope for the brands as the air quality across the country is deteriorating with every passing day. While the situation is bad in Delhi and adjacent states, the other parts of the country are not much safer and if the respective government do not take cognizance of the situation in time, it will not be easy for them to manage things later.
"As North India contributes almost 80% to the industry sales, the market will continue to be dominated by Metros, with Delhi - NCR being the main action place. Online is a major driver for air purifiers and it contributes 1/4th to the overall sales of the total market size as many well-informed consumers opt for that," said Alvi.
Large brands are gauging the situation and swiftly making an entry into the space or spending heavily on advertising for air purifiers.
Hindustan Unilever's (HUL) has been the latest entrant to the segment after it acquired Blueair in August last year. It is selling air purifiers under the Pureit brand, which also sells water purifiers.
The company has now been aggressively promoting its air purifiers through it recently launched ad film, especially on the digital medium. The ad film titled 'Pureit Air Purifier: Don't let your child do this at home' targets parents who are concerned about the well being of their kids.
Honeywell too has roped in actress Kareena Kapoor for its latest air purifier ad film released last month. LG too has released its PuriCare Air Purifier ad featuring Daniel Wurtzel, air sculpture artist.
"This year, we would focus more on digital platform for marketing and will back it with on-ground activations. We will also focus on providing experience to consumers at various touch-points such as retail outlets as well as homes & offices, by providing live demo. Through our trained promoters, we will educate the consumers and even do complementary test of air quality at their homes & Offices," said Alvi.
As the demand for air purifiers increase, so will the ad-spend across the category.
Traditionally, winters has been the peak selling season for air purifiers brands and the latter heavily advertise now. During the winter season, it is difficult for smoke and carbon particles to rise in the air and hence the pollution levels increases further in the atmosphere causing problems in breathing.
Over the last two years, with the advent of Diwali, pollution levels have seen a surge till the end of the winter season in Delhi and surrounding areas. This has also resulted in a high growth in the sales of air purifiers.
In 2016 Panasonic witnessed a 400% jump in sales of air purifiers during the post Diwali period. While Kent had seen a seven time increase in sales of air purifiers during this time.
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