Blue Star targets 15% market share by 2024

Leading air conditioning brand Blue Star has embarked on an aggressive market expansion strategy to acquire 15% market share in India by 2024 from about 13% currently.

The company targets to grow 25% in FY22, ahead of the industry growth, a top executive said.

“We started this year with 12.75% market share and are now close to 13%. We are are optimistic about the future and we are outperforming the industry growth. We are a pure AC player, known for our expertise in cooling, quality, reliability and durability. We will maintain this preposition but we are repositioning ourselves as an affordable premium brand,” said B. Thiagarajan, MD.

He said the foray into mass premium segment would help the company to achieve its target.

“We have strategically repositioned ourselves as a ‘Masstige’ brand with the introduction of our new range of split ACs to cater to the mass market and expand our market reach. Affordability while retaining Blue Star’s premium build quality is the criterion which we have focused upon for this season’s product introduction,” he said.

He said this move is aligned to the company’s last year’s aim of shifting orbit and accelerating growth by garnering a mass appeal cutting across geographies and demographics.

“We are progressing well on our chosen trajectory, and we will continue to leverage our brand association with Virat Kohli to march further ahead in this direction,” he added.

On Wednesday, the company unveiled its new range of ‘Mass Premium’ split air conditioners which are 10% cheaper than the earlier models. The new range comprises 3-star, 4-star, and 5-star inverter split air conditioners that are available at prices starting from ₹25,990 for a 0.80 TR 3-star inverter split AC.

The company would invest ₹64 crore in advertising in FY22 as compared to ₹22 crore in FY21. Apart from expanding the third party sales outlets, the company is increasing the network of its exclusive brand stores from 200 to 250 stores by the end of FY22.

The company has committed investments of over ₹670 crore to expand capacity at various locations.