Starting as a family run business from the outskirts of Delhi to transforming itself as a Public Limited Company, journey of Havells India has been a fascinating and inspiring one for many. With a turnover of Rs. 9,429 Crores in FY 19-20, Havells is a well-established player in the consumer category of Switchgears, Cables, Lighting and Electrical consumer durables.
Havells has recorded PBT of Rs. 902 Crore which is nearly 9.6% of the annual turnover. The branch of business in Havells has about 17 business verticals which is efficiently manages by different vertical heads. Havells has an employee strength of nearly 6,000 and has focused mainly on welfare of its workforce even during the times of pandemic. The company has launched different initiatives to facilitate engagement through virtual mode to enhance physical, mental and overall well-being of its employees.
Brief History
Havells started as a small electric trading company in the electric wholesale market in Old Delhi by Mr. Qimat Rai Gupta during 1958. The name Havells came from Haveli Ram Gandhi from whom Mr. Gupta bought the brand in 1971.
Soon after this, first manufacturing plant of Havells was set up in Tilak Nagar, New Delhi which started manufacturing Rewireable switches and changeover switches. Further, Havells diversified to the business of manufacturing energy meters and initiated a joint venture with Geyer, Germany to set up a manufacturing plant in Badli, Delhi for producing MCBs.
Havells also started exploring the international market during late 1990s when its first international sales office was opened in London, UK. It also invested in extensive R&D thus leading to set up of its R&D plant in Noida after which there was an acquisition of Crabtree by Havells which came at around November,2005. It is also a market leader in the CFL lighting segment and one of the first companies in India to get ISI certification for complete range of CFLs.
LED Market in India and Havells share
The market for LED in India is quite impressive with increased focus on energy efficient lighting and also backing up of the government. With a remarkable US$ 2.87 billion value in 2019, the LED market is forecast to have a CAGR of 34.3% during 2020-25.
Although, the demand for LEDs in India is still at a nascent stage, the scope and untapped potential is relatively high and growth is guaranteed in over the next few decades.
Few advantages that the India’s LED market enjoy are availability of Skilled Labor, ease of doing business and benefit due to Demography. In these large and growing markets and fierce competition, Havells has successfully made its presence felt using superior quality and pricing strategy as its USP. Also, some effective and timely acquisitions have enabled Havells a strong position in the LED Market among which its acquisition of SLI Sylvania for US$ 300 Million is worth mentioning. This made Havells as fourth largest lighting business in the world.
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4P Marketing Strategy of Havells
Product
Havells is well diversified in terms of its product range and one of the topmost in the FMEG companies. With a strong footprint in the global market, Havells is spending extensively in R&D facility and as a result it has been able to dominate the market with quality products. Product portfolio of Havells are as follows:
- Kitchenware – This segment includes cookware and bakeware items like Cookware Set, Mixer grinder, Pressure Cookers and Hand Blenders.
- Home Decorative Items – All Lighting items like CFLs, LEDs and Decorative Lighting fixtures like Ceiling lights, Lamps and wall lights fall under this category.
- Electric Appliances – This category of Havells includes Air Purifiers, Iron and large appliances like Geysers, Fans (both Ceiling and Stand), Microwaves, Heaters. This also includes Induction cooktops, Toasters, Sandwich makers, Electrical cookers and Juicers.
Price
Havells has developed i as a premium brand which drives the sales due to its qualitative excellence. A premium pricing policy has been adopted for majority of its products. However,dealers are more excited to include Havells products due to the ease of getting quick turnover and customers also view Havells as a premium brand as they think high prices are due to the superior quality and has increase customer value.
Even in the international market Havells has maintained its image as a premium company. Still, it does offer periodic and festive season offer to attract more customer base and enhance customer relation.
Place
With international presence in over 50 countries, Havells has nearly 91 representative offices to maintain its operations efficiently. The distribution network consists of Branch Offices, Distributors, Retailers and Consumers.
It also started Havells Galaxy concept which is like a one stop shop for Havells and Crabtree products. Till now, 63 Galaxy has opened in different cities.
Havells World is another unique initiative to display entire range of Havells products in wholesale markets and it started first in Delhi and Mumbai.
In addition to all these, Havells have also invested in mCatalogue app which is a unique augmented reality feature which allows to see products at the place of installation to have an idea how it will look.
Promotion
Havells has adopted several marketing policies to maintain its brand awareness among the dealers and consumers. Several campaigns have been aired on radio and several ads has been done for television network to keep consumers aware of the latest products and developments. They have utilized newspapers, magazines and hoardings effectively as their promotion strategy. Havells have involved in the past with significant events like T20 World cup, IPL Season 1& 2, Champions League and Champions Trophy.
Conclusion
One thing which can be said with firm conviction is that Havells is keeping pace with the industry growth. The market share of Havells in the last two years in MCB, MCCB segment has increased enough to maintain its market share intact though the market is rising itself.
Though it has faced some setback due to COVID and its effect on operations which reduced its turnover in FY 2019-20, it is more than guaranteed that Havells will jump back with efficient measures at place.
According to the Chairman Anil Kumar Gupta, Havells is keen about one crucial element that is in having and edge over rivals by building trust among retailers and distributors. In a country like India, Mr. Gupta believes it is impossible to have the upper hand without having the retailers’ faith.
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