With penetration at 10-20%, Godrej Appliances builds growth on premiumisation

New Delhi: As appliance penetration in India remains structurally low with air conditioners at 10-11%, washing machines at around 20%, and refrigerators at roughly 40%, Godrej Appliances is recalibrating its growth strategy around premiumisation, front-load adoption and sharper marketing execution.

“We are among the fastest-growing brands across categories. In washing machines, we have grown at three times the industry average. In air conditioners and refrigerators, we have grown at twice the industry rate,” said Swati Rathi, CMO, Godrej Appliances, outlining the company’s relative outperformance.

The growth comes after a year when summer demand remained uneven across the sector.
“Last year, summer was not strong for most brands, and the industry took a hit. Despite that, we registered significant growth across categories and were able to buck the broader trend,” she noted, referring to FY performance.

Premium portfolio running ahead of the market

Premiumisation remains an industry-wide trend, but the company maintains that its premium growth is ahead of the curve.

“Premiumisation is an industry phenomenon. However, our premium portfolio is growing significantly faster than the industry average,” Rathi said.

Split ACs, frost-free refrigerators and side-by-side models are key growth drivers. Backend investments in innovation and portfolio expansion are supporting this mix upgrade, she indicated.

The structural opportunity is anchored in low penetration levels.

“Refrigerator penetration is over 40%, but washing machines are at around 20% and air conditioners at 10-11%. From a penetration lens, there is still a large base of first-time buyers,” she explained.

Growth is not confined to metros. While refrigerators are seeing strong traction in Tier 1 markets, ACs and washing machines are expanding across smaller towns as well.

“In ACs and washing machines, growth is not limited to Tier 1 cities. Tier 1 remains important, but we are seeing meaningful traction in smaller towns too,” she said.

Media and communication strategies are therefore consumer-led rather than purely geography-led.

“When we are addressing a consumer in a Tier 4 town for a front-load machine, we are still speaking to a premium consumer within that market,” she remarked, describing the segmentation approach.

The marketing engine behind premium expansion

As product mix shifts upward, the marketing strategy is being recalibrated to balance brand equity with sales conversion.

“As marketers, we need to move brand health metrics and conversion simultaneously. It cannot be one at the cost of the other,” Rathi stated, outlining the guiding principle behind recent campaigns.

This thinking informed the company’s handloom-focused campaign for its AI-powered front-load washing machines.

“We tested 25 handloom fabrics across 25 wash cycles in our AI-powered front-load machines. Microscopic testing was conducted to validate the fabric-care claims before communication,” she said, emphasising product substantiation.

Watch the campaign film here:

India accounts for 95% of global handloom production, yet consumer hesitation around machine-washing delicate fabrics persists. The campaign attempted to address this gap by linking technological capability with cultural context, she indicated.

Execution followed a 360-degree structure. Creativeland Asia handles mainline creative, Dentsu manages social, Madison leads media planning, and MOMS, a specialised Out-of-Home (OOH) advertising division of Madison World, while Adfactors oversees PR.

“The initiative was built across digital, out-of-home, and on-ground activations and strong in-store presence. These were the core pillars of the rollout,” she said, detailing the channel mix.
In Bengaluru, for instance, hyperlocal outdoor formats such as cab branding around Mysore Silk were deployed to build contextual relevance, she added.

Actor Dia Mirza fronted the first phase of the campaign, with emphasis placed on credibility rather than scale.

“Authenticity was critical for us. The voice representing the campaign needed to genuinely understand handloom and sustainability. Dia Mirza’s alignment with these values made her a natural fit,” Rathi said.

Rather than deploying a wide influencer network at launch, the brand prioritised credibility and narrative control.

“In categories like ours, depth of content often works better than volume of voices. We wanted to build a strong foundation first,” she explained.

Future phases may see broader influencer participation, but the initial rollout focused on establishing authority around the claim.

Digital influence now plays a decisive role in the appliance category.

“Over 60% of appliance sales are influenced online. While actual online transactions account for roughly 12-13%, digital plays a major role in shaping offline purchase decisions,” she observed.
Video content is central to premium communication.

“Video allows us to demonstrate features and build aspiration. It is an important lever in driving premium perception,” she explained.

Appliances remain heavily search-led categories, and AI-driven discovery is reshaping marketing execution.

“With AI-powered search journeys, the way consumers discover and evaluate products is changing significantly,” she said.

The rise of AI-assisted search and recommendation engines is influencing media strategy and content optimisation. Product descriptions, review management and structured information architecture have become as important as creative communication.

TV is no longer the default, and quick commerce is too nascent

As Godrej Appliances advances its premium strategy, television is no longer a default allocation but a seasonal lever.

“Television is evaluated very sharply from an ROI perspective. During peak summer, especially for ACs, it still plays a role in driving scale,” said Rathi, adding that high-cost properties must justify incremental impact.

Outside seasonal spikes, spends are increasingly optimised toward digital, which offers sharper targeting and measurable attribution.

Quick commerce, meanwhile, remains early-stage for large appliances. “Quick commerce is still nascent for categories like ours,” Rathi observed, citing high ticket sizes, delivery logistics and installation requirements as constraints.

Agency instability is dragging marketing momentum

Beyond market volatility, agency churn has become a significant operational concern.
“There is considerable flux at the agency level, particularly in terms of personnel. That impacts execution speed and continuity,” said Rathi. 

In a technical, high-involvement category like appliances, frequent team changes can disrupt category understanding, slow campaign rollout and dilute strategic sharpness, she indicated. Premium communication, in particular, requires consistency and deep product familiarity.

“When you are dealing with premium products, consistency in understanding the category and brand becomes extremely important,” she observed.

Alongside agency instability, weather unpredictability and media inflation continue to pressure planning and budgets. “One of the biggest risks for the industry remains weather volatility,” Rathi added, pointing to the broader operating environment.

Premium as the core lever

Looking ahead, the company intends to continue investing in innovation and premium positioning.

“There are several innovations lined up in the pipeline. Premiumisation will remain a core pillar for us,” Rathi said.

With AC penetration at 10-11% and washing machines at around 20%, the structural headroom remains significant. 

The company’s current strategy combines portfolio premiumisation with integrated marketing across digital, OOH, influencer-led storytelling and retail presence, as it seeks to capture both first-time buyers and premium upgraders in the next phase of growth, she concluded.