Godrej Appliances, the pioneer in the Indian refrigeration industry added another feather to its cap by launching an eco-friendly 30 litres portable refrigerator named Qube, at St.Regis in Mumbai on Tuesday.
Qube is a unique lifestyle product which is refrigerant free, compressor free, and instead works on a thermo-electric chip. The company claims they are the first brand to launch this technology for the Indian market.
Commenting on the launch, Kamal Nandi, Business Head and Executive Vice President of Godrej Appliances said, “This is a personal cooling solution for small requirements like storing beverages, medicines, water, and juice. It only consumes 0.5 units and runs on a 12V battery. Thermoelectric is the most efficient technology today.”
(L-R) Sanjay Lonial, Swati Rathi, Anup Bhargava, Kamal Nandi
Speaking about B2B tie ups, Nandi said, “We are already placing this product in the hospitality segment. Lot of hotels are appreciating the product. We actually see a potential in the hospitality segment as the hotels are coming forward for this product, because they are seeing more value than the compressor based product that they are using today. Qube has a very low DBM and also is noise free. Hoteliers welcome a product like this. We already received few orders in Ahmedabad.”
Nandi shared his views regarding the influx of low priced Chinese goods in the Indian market by saying, “India is an open economy and all brands are welcome here today. Ultimately it is the consumer who will decide the success of a brand or a product and the value it offers to them. For a brand to really get the share of the consumer’s wallet, it has to entice them with the best technology, best features, and best aesthetics. If a brand offers an enticing value, then consumers are willing to pay a price for that, whether it is a Chinese or a Korean brand."
Informing that the company is planning to launch a product in every quarter this year, Nandi added, “There are a lot of products with thermoelectric technology in our pipeline which will get launched as we move forward. We will bring our products one after another. We will be bringing in more thermoelectric technology powered products with higher capacities. We will also be launching the thermoelectric technology solution through different applications”.
Speaking about the technology, Sanjay Lonial, Assistant Vice President, Thermoelectric Application Development, Godrej Appliances said, “Qube is a personal food and beverage cooler, powered by solid state electronic cooling. The advantage of this advanced technology is that it has no compressor. It also has no refrigerant and is orientation independent. If we compare this with traditional thermoelectric technology it offers benefits like faster cooling, lower power consumption”.
Anup Bhargava, Product Group Head, Godrej Appliances, further added, “The product is ideal for personal use in offices, shops, hotels, hostels, guest houses etc. We are planning to place the product to 16,000 retail outlets in which 100 exclusive brand outlets, 200 preferred brand outlets. Also we are planning to bundle it with our other solutions or maybe with big sized refrigerator as well. We are planning to sell 50,000 units in FY 20; 1,00,000 units in FY21; and 2,00,000 units in FY22." |