The world’s lowest-cost refrigerator will be launched in March.
Sunderraman says the idea to target the bottom of the pyramid customers was given shape at a workshop with Clayton M Christensen, Harvard University professor, best known for his ideas on disruptive innovation. The idea discussed in the workshop was to involve villagers right from the design to selling of the product.
The company did that in right earnest ever since it unveiled the first prototype of Chotukool in September last year. The product has gone in for several alterations after every little detail, including pricing and colour (red and blue were the clear winners) was discussed with a select group of villagers and micro-finance institutions.
The Godrej group is betting big on Chotukool. “It will certainly help us in overtaking competition,” says Sunderraman. The group lost its leadership position to Korean giants LG and Samsung and Whirlpool of the US a few years ago. Godrej & Boyce is currently the fourth largest player in the over three million units market.
But analysts say the cheapest segment is not the largest selling category in refrigerators. The largest selling category with over 50 per cent market share is the 160 to 170 litre size models priced at about Rs 6,500 to Rs 7,500. Hence, making Chotukool a success will be a long haul for the group, more so in a category which needs volumes to compensate for the ultra-thin margins.
But Sunderraman is unfazed. “We are trying to create a market segment which would evolve gradually. Eventually, it should have a significant share of the market,” he says.
In any case, Chotukool is bound to attract a huge new group of consumers in a country where fewer than one in five homes has a refrigerator. It is also in tune with what Management Guru C K Prahalad has been saying for some time now — serving the poorest of the world can and should be good for business.
Prahalad would be happy with the inventiveness of the people connected with Chotukool.
Sunderraman says the idea to target the bottom of the pyramid customers was given shape at a workshop with Clayton M Christensen, Harvard University professor, best known for his ideas on disruptive innovation. The idea discussed in the workshop was to involve villagers right from the design to selling of the product.
The company did that in right earnest ever since it unveiled the first prototype of Chotukool in September last year. The product has gone in for several alterations after every little detail, including pricing and colour (red and blue were the clear winners) was discussed with a select group of villagers and micro-finance institutions.
The Godrej group is betting big on Chotukool. “It will certainly help us in overtaking competition,” says Sunderraman. The group lost its leadership position to Korean giants LG and Samsung and Whirlpool of the US a few years ago. Godrej & Boyce is currently the fourth largest player in the over three million units market.
But analysts say the cheapest segment is not the largest selling category in refrigerators. The largest selling category with over 50 per cent market share is the 160 to 170 litre size models priced at about Rs 6,500 to Rs 7,500. Hence, making Chotukool a success will be a long haul for the group, more so in a category which needs volumes to compensate for the ultra-thin margins.
But Sunderraman is unfazed. “We are trying to create a market segment which would evolve gradually. Eventually, it should have a significant share of the market,” he says.
In any case, Chotukool is bound to attract a huge new group of consumers in a country where fewer than one in five homes has a refrigerator. It is also in tune with what Management Guru C K Prahalad has been saying for some time now — serving the poorest of the world can and should be good for business.
Prahalad would be happy with the inventiveness of the people connected with Chotukool.
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