Where lies the growth for refrigerator makers?
From luxury living rooms to rural homes, refrigerators have become a must-have for more than half of Bangladeshi households. As the market matures, brands are shifting their focus—chasing both first-time buyers and return customers seeking bigger, smarter, and more efficient models
Over the past decade, the annual demand for refrigerators in Bangladesh has nearly quadrupled to around 35 lakh units. This surge is driven by local manufacturing, rising purchasing power, and changing lifestyles.
Walton Hi-Tech Industries is leading the charge, now controlling more than two-thirds of the market and becoming a billion-dollar company in the process. Other major brands like Vision, Konka, Singer, Jamuna, Minister, My One, Orion, LG, Samsung, and Hisense are also competing for market share.
Even after refrigerators have made their way into more than half of Bangladeshi homes, companies are not slowing down. They continue to invest in larger factories, advanced technologies, and product innovation.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
So what's next? Industry insiders say the focus is now twofold: reaching first-time buyers and upgrading existing users to newer, larger, and more high-tech models.
"The repeat buyers are more lucrative for most of the brands," said Nur Alam, executive director of RFL Electronics, the manufacturer of Vision refrigerators.
A 2023 government survey suggests 53.4% of the over 3.5 crore Bangladeshi households have a refrigerator— 70% in the urban and 48% in the rural areas.
Refrigerator marketers, keeping in mind that one in every five households is below the poverty line in Bangladesh, only eye the untapped one-fourth of the country's households considered to be lower middle class.
"At least half of the existing users are expected to replace their refrigerator in the next one decade," said J M Taslim Kabir, head of marketing at Fair Group, the manufacturer of Samsung and Hisense products in Bangladesh.
First-time buyers look for budget options in basic, smaller fridges. They prefer purchasing in instalments, he said, adding excessive focus on the segment may deprive a company of returns against research and development (R&D) cost and the working capital deployed.
His company is more for affordability of the higher-end freezes, as this attracts the high-income and upper-middle-income families.
Refrigerator big boy Walton started even before, with its continuous investments in the largest refrigerator R&D unit in South Asia and launching models with new features.
The result is already evident. Four of every 10 Walton freezes are being bought by the betterment seekers, significantly higher than in 2017-18, according to the company.
Energy-efficient inverter refrigerators had a market share of 30% before the pandemic, and now it has reached 50%, said Nurul Afsar, deputy managing director of Electro Mart Limited, which manufactures Konka and Haiko refrigerators that ascended to the top five spot in market share terms.
He expects the almost billion-dollar annual refrigerator market in Bangladesh will surpass 40 lakh units by 2030, and each of the units will have inverter compressors that halve electricity consumption.
"30% of the existing users are looking to buy a new refrigerator as soon as they can," Nurul Afsar found.
Unlike air conditioners, refrigerators are not that energy hungry. Why do people look for a technologically advanced one? Because the advanced technology is not limited to power saving, said the refrigerator makers.
People are also loving modern refrigerators to keep the inner fresher and odour-free with the help of lights and active carbon deodorisers alongside the smart features for balanced cooling, outer control, internet of things and many others, according to Afsar.
Taslim Kabir said families with rising income are looking for one bigger refrigerator with modern technological features instead of having a basic old refrigerator and a chest freezer.
Brands are making more multi-door large refrigerators with better technology and design themes to attract them.
Vision's Nur Alam said the refrigerators that Bangladeshi plants are manufacturing nowadays are much longer-lasting than the previously imported budget freezes. Even replacing the basic ones offers peace.
Modern freezes have already become half of the Walton's total sales.
The other half is still lucrative
Maybe it generates less turnover, but the other half without advanced features is still a big market due to the rural dominance in demand.
80% of the refrigerators are being sold outside Dhaka, and the lion's share is still captured by the freezes that cost Tk30-45 thousand, said Nur Alam.
Nurul Afsar said six-seven years ago, no-frost freezes were 30% of the market and it dropped to 20% now as rural customers prefer frost freezes for a lower price and keeping meat and fish fresh during load shedding.
Most of the brands are gearing up to capture growth in both the basic and advanced segments, according to the marketers.
Singer, the former market leader in the mass refrigerator market, invested $78 million to build its state-of-the-art factory in the south of Dhaka following the acquisition by Turkish multinational Arçelik, as it did not give up.
95% of the market is being served by local plants now, a significant development from the 100% imports in the 2000s.
The industry is exporting refrigerators and components to over 40 countries, pioneered by Walton, which can be an even greater source of their growth.
