Aggravated by his mother’s fatigue and the stress of having to wash the household clothes every week, Mesfin Tefera, 24, a resident at a Kebele house and an employee at a bank with a monthly salary of 3,000 Br decided to buy a washing machine a few days ago.
He had heard his neighbors, who had bought a washing machine recently, saying that the LG brand grants a two-year warranty. Thus, he was searching for a similar brand at three LG branches, though he could not find the type of washing machine he wanted to buy. The LG brand is imported and distributed by Metro Plc.
There are two types of washing machines, automatic and manual. The automatic is a type that is directly linked with the pipeline and can be adjusted based on wash, rinse and spin degrees. The manual one is not however linked with the pipe line and works upon the control of the user.
The price of the washing machines is also different based on their type, brand and the weight of clothes they can wash at a time. A manual washing machine of LG brand with a washing capacity of 11 kilograms and 14 kilograms at a time are sold at 9,500 Br and 11,300 Br respectively. Whereas the automatic LG brands with 13 kilograms and 17 kilograms are sold at 35,000 Br and 37,000 Br, respectively. Similarly, the manual washing machine of Samsung brand, which is exclusively imported and distributed by Garad Plc, is sold at 8,700 per 13 kilograms and 13,000 Br per 16 kilograms, whereas the automatic Samsung brand is sold at 10,800 Br and 11,250 Br for six kilograms and eight kilograms, respectively.
The type Mesfin wanted to buy, a manual machine whose brand is LG and has a washing capacity of 12 kilograms was not available at the two branches of LG found at Merkato and Piazza, he told Fortune.
A washing machine user, Semaynesh Eshetye, 45, a house wife who resides in one of the condominium houses found around Gotera, purchased a washing machine three months ago of Hisence brand, which is imported and distributed by Glorious Plc. The machine she bought at 8,450 Br, which is a manual washing machine with a capacity of washing 10 kilograms, is making her burdens easier and saving her from additional expenses. Three months ago, she used to wash all by herself, occasionally paying to an irregular servant who comes around just to wash clothes. She said with great delight that the machine has made her burdens easier and minimizes the costs she used to spend for a washing servant, which was 600 Br per month. The machine averts drain and makes convenience to wash at one hand and to do other household staffs on the other hand at the same time.
Selamawit Kassa, 24 sales agents at Omedad, which is an importer and distributer of Panasonic, Ocean and Ignis brands, stated that there is more demand of washing machine, especially on the manual type of washing machine that has a washing capacity of 11 kilograms and 13 kilograms. This is because the manual type is convenient to use at any time despite water interruptions and is cheaper in terms of price when compared to the automatic one, Selamwit added.
With the difficulty of washing at condominium houses, most residents are demanding washing machines and the brand of Panasonic, which has a washing capacity of 10 kilograms is preferred by our customers, she added.
The average order for washing machines per one week is three times. Each time they order five machines. That means that they receive 15 washing machines, which are sold within three days in the LG branch of Churchill Street. Similarly, a Konka branch in Piazza orders six washing machines per week; the manual type and these washing machines are sold within one week. Most of the time, the buyers are newly married couples, new house owners with middle and higher living standard, Abdela Kerem salesman at Konka’s Piazza branch, told Fortune. The demand for a washing machine has been increasing since the mid of 2012, he added.
There has been high demand for washing machines since 2014, especially for the manual ones, according to Rahel Getachew, a sales manager of LG at the Churchill street branch. The reasons she mentioned for the increase in the demand of manual washing machine is simplicity of usage and water managing. Unlike its automatic counterpart, the manual one can be used with less water and if and when the water goes out, it can still be used, as it is not directly linked to pipeline. In addition, the manual can be easily used without program adjustment, which is convenient for household servants. The price rate is another factor that makes the manual type more appealing.
Manual washing machines of the Samsung brand, which is imported and distributed by Garad Plc exclusively, are sold at 13, 000 Br and 8,700 Br for machines with the capacity of 16 kilograms and 13 kilograms respectively. Whereas the automatic Samsung washing machine is sold at 10,800 Br whose washing capacity is six kilograms. Eight kilograms is sold at 11,250 Br and 12 kilograms is sold at 38, 000 Br, manager of the branch Meseret Assefa states. Though she does not want to disclose the number of machines the branch orders and sells per day or per week, she said the demand for washing machine has been increasing since the beginning of this year.
Despite this, the manger of Ariston branch of Churchill Street, who did not want his name to be disclosed, said that though there is a boost in the demand of washing machines, the increase is not significant in number. He noted as an example that during the Ethiopian New Year F&M Trading had announced under advertisement made at Radio that it had arranged a six-month payment term for private and public servants. However, there was no one who could afford it in spite of the facilitation, he said. Ariston is a brand that is imported and distributed by F&M Trading.
However, many retailers of electronic goods have confirmed that there is a trend in the increase for the demand of washing machines and that the orders the branch retailers made to head retailers is increasing both in terms of rate of order and number of machines per one order .
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