Vijay C Roy
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, May 3
With digital era transforming the shopping trends, the famous juicer mixer and grinder (JMG) industry of Ambala is gearing up to ride the e-commerce bandwagon. Perturbed over dwindling sales, the industry is planning to make their presence felt through e-retailers such as Flipkart, Amazon, Snapdeal and Paytm Mall to compete with their bigger competitors.
Manufacturers say the proposed move will not only help in branding of their products but it will also help in promoting sales.
“The industry is in a shambles and looking for alternative means to market its products. We plan to sell through Amazon and Flipkart,” said Ambala Electrical Appliances Manufacturers Association president Ajay Aggarwal.
The industry is struggling to sustain, with many of the units having shut down in the recent past. The JMG cluster of Ambala, comprising around 100 units in the MSME sector, has been badly hit due to high incidence of taxes, competition from MNCs and government apathy.
Out of these, there would be around 30 JMG manufacturers while the remaining are ancillaries or parts manufacturers. According to the industry, many of the companies don’t have even a website.
At present, Ambala produces around 5,000 units of JMGs per day and serves northern region, comprising Punjab, Haryana, Himachal, J&K and Rajasthan.
Since the cost of setting up a website, managing inventory and logistics and establishing a payment gateway can be intimidating, they are planning to associate themselves with e-commerce players.
“We were listed on some trading websites few years ago but were not satisfied. We plan to list on e-commerce websites soon to curb dwindling sales,” said Ashu Saini, manufacturer of “Surya” brand of appliances.
According to the industry, manufacturers in the micro and small category have limited resources to drive their businesses due to lack of money, access and visibility. However, with the advent of e-commerce, they are finding new ways to market their products.
“We associated with e-commerce players around two-three years ago and sales have been amazing. Now, the sales have come down due to the government apathy and competition from other players,” said S Mittal, marketing head, Unichef Appliances.
The industry has sought help of the government to deal with these issues. “We have requested the government to create a cluster so that the industry can improve the quality of products to match the international standards and compete with bigger brands,” said Aggarwal.
Industry size
Number of units: Around 100
Output per day: 5,000 units
Target market: Punjab, Haryana, HP, J&K, Rajasthan
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from The Tribune http://bit.ly/2JftI2e
via Today’s News Headlines
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