Goan TV dealers score goals, before Messi, Ronaldo do

 Jump in TV sales as World Cup kick-off day approaches

AJIT JOHN

ajit@herald-goa.com

PANJIM: Will Christiano Ronaldo help Portugal win the World Cup or will it be the year when the hosts Brazil add to their grand total of five World Cup wins. The premier football championship commences in two days and the world is caught up in the excitement and Goa is no exception. Travelling to the land of the Samba may be beyond many budgets but watching it on television is certainly not.

The sales of television sets may not compare to Maharashtra or Karnataka but the off take is no less quite surprising. Goa is one of three states where come football World Cup time, the purchase of television sets increase dramatically.

Swapnil Pangam of Sony says, “This is the State where people walk in and buy large HD screen models for just one match. Every four years, Goa along with Kerala and West Bengal are markets where there is a surge in the sale of television sets. We offer 

discounts prior to a World Cup only in these three markets.”

The television market is now dominated by LED, LCD, Plasma TVs. They comprise multi-national giants like Sony, Samsung, Panasonic and national brands like Onida.

Felipe Alvares of Prime Electronics, a retail outlet in Panjim said, “This month should be good. I expect a lot of action in a day or two. People will buy television sets because the game is a passion here. Everyone watches it and has played it at some point of time.” Sales he claimed were very poor in January 2014. The slump in the economy post mining closure did play a big part.

He said sales all over the State were poor but it was gradually picking up as the year progressed. The market he said was a 2500-3000 sets a month in the State. He said this would increase to 4000 this month. Asked the reason for his confidence he said, “The World Cup is like Diwali. Those are the numbers we touch during that festival.” While all brands are likely to compete for attention, Sony may have ‘the home advantage’ of greater brand recall since Sony Six, their broadcasting arm has the TV rights for the World Cup.

A customer who walked into the store said that the World Cup was a motivation to purchase a new television but it was also the various schemes on offer. One brand was offering a deal whereby interested parties could pay Rs1,999 and take a television set home. They would have to pay the rest in seven months. Another had a deal whereby one could walk into the shop and walk out with a set and pay the amount over a period of 15 months. A Sales executive at Shetye Sales, Panjim another white goods dealer which also has outlets in Margao and Bicholim said that business had picked up given that the World Cup was just around the corner. The executive said, “The last fifteen days were dull but now it will get exciting. We are now getting 15-20 people walking into this store asking about the various discounts or deals on offer. Some of the brands are offering the same replica of the football that will be used at this World Cup along with t-shirts.”

With regards to the technology that was popular he said it was the plasma technology which had seen an increase in approximately 5% in the number of queries.

The World Cup indeed has come at a time when the white goods sector had experienced tough times due to the slowdown in the economy at the State level.  Perhaps now TV dealers will look at Messi and Ronaldo and countless others they will much to thank if they touch their monthly targets.