AC, coolers business down in Nalgonda

Nalgonda: One of the top summer business, sale of coolers, fridges and ACs was collapsed this year due to the lockdown. Cooler, fridges, AC selling shops were closed at the starting of the season and now the shops were reopened at the end of the season, causing heavy loss to the traders.

The shop owners of these products in Nalgonda district said that they thought the lockdown will be for a short span only, but it was extended for two months. Now the sale of coolers and ACs are going on at a snail's phase as the summer season reached to end. Traders are worrying that there will be no business if rainy season starts within a fortnight.

Every year, traders has to order for cooling appliances in advance and this year also they put orders, but they couldn't sell at least one product, thus incurring heavy loss to them. A few traders engaged in this business said that every summer there will be a business of Rs 2 to Rs 2.5 crore, but this time it was Rs 30 to Rs 40 lakhs only due to the corona effect.

Meanwhile, customers also faced lot of problems due to the non-availability of cooling appliances in hot summer. The lockdown had an adverse effect on online sales of coolers, fridges and ACs.

P Ramu, a seller of assembled coolers in Nalgonda town, said that he sold as many as 200 assembled coolers in last summer and got a profit of Rs 1 lakh in a short span of 60 days. "I couldn't reach the breakeven sales this summer due to lockdown. If I could sell 60 coolers in the next 15 days, then I can come out of loss," he said.