Electronic household items market expands rapidly

by L. S. A. Wedaarachchi

The electric and electronic household items market has expanded rapidly during the last few years.

All strata of Sri Lankans now go for the latest electronic items.

The fast moving electric and electronic household items include washing machines, refrigerators, pressure cookers, radio and cassette recorders, TVs, fruit mixers and telephones.

Chairman and MD of the Sonica group M. H. M. Rahim said that there is a big demand for these household items. Twelve-thousand radio and cassette recorders are sold daily by his company, and other items such as fruit mixers, cookers and washing machines also have a remarkable demand, he said.

He said "It is natural that people go for automatic and semiautomatic household items to ease their busy lifestyle.

The Sonica group's target is to meet the ever increasing demand of household items especially for the lower middle and lower segments of society, supplying high-quality and affordable Chinese products, he said.

A survey conducted by an independent research team revealed that six hundred thousand radio and cassette recorders are sold monthly in urban and rural markets.

Popular musical programs and news in Sinhala, Tamil and English are broadcast by more than twenty FM radio stations round the clock. As a result of the popularity of these programs there is a huge market for radios.

Earlier Sri Lankans working abroad brought electric and electronic items on their return to the country. This has now changed and they purchase these household items in Sri Lanka since all the leading and popular brands are available in the market at competitive prices, Rahim said.

Rahim entered this business in 1999 under the name "Capital Watch" which sold capital wristwatches. After a few years he ventured into marketing electronic items.

In 2005 the Sonica company in China, a leading Chinese manufacturer of electric and electronic items appointed Rahim as the General Sales Agent for their products in Sri Lanka since Rahim was selected as the best performer in the sales of Sonica brand of electronic items in Pettah.

"Our group envisages to become the market leader in electronic products by 2012. In the next five years Sonica branded items will be a household name, he said. At present the Sonica group has six branches in addition to those in Pettah, Dehiwala and Mattakkuliya. In the near future Sonica products will be available in one-thousand sales outlets all over the island, he said.

CEO of the Sonica Group Naufer Noordeen said "Basically household items fulfil the basic needs of the people. It relieves the rigours of living.

The Sonica group's focuses special attention on the lower middle class and lower segments of society. It is a huge market and within the last 18 months the Sonica group sold 150, 40 ft containers of household items imported from China.

An interest free hire purchase scheme on easy terms was introduced to help the lower income sector of society to purchase their needs, he said.

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