Washing machine sales boom; few homes have them

Washing machine sales boom; few homes have them

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

After Yanti's employer purchased a fully automatic washing
machine last year, the menial task of doing laundry has been much
easier for the 23-year-old in-house maid working in Kelapa
Gading, North Jakarta.

"Previously, I had to hand wash everything. Linens, shirts,
towels, diapers, dresses ... you name it! I washed them with my
hands," said Yanti, who works for a family of four. "My hands
were chafed from all the scrubbing."

As more and more households in Indonesia see the benefit of
owning a washing machines, sales of this appliance has increased
by 49 percent from about 485,000 in 2003 to 726,000 in 2004,
according to data from the Electronic Marketers Club (EMC).

Heribertus Ronny, who is in charge of marketing washing
machines for Samsung Indonesia, said there was still much room
for growth, especially in the more upscale fully automatic
washing machines.

"The overall penetration rate of washing machines in Indonesia
remains low, at about 10 percent of all households," said Ronny,
whose firm achieved an 18 percent market share last year. "As
Indonesians grow wealthier, they will start purchasing the fully-
automatic models."

Fully automatic washing machines, where the rinsing and
spinning to extract water is done in one compartment, accounted
for 30 percent of units sold last year. While semi-automatic
machines, where clothes have to be manually transferred from the
washing tub to the separate spinning tub, dominated the market
with a 70 percent share.

Asa Waworuntu, who is in charge of washing machine sales for
market leader LG Electronics, said sales of fully automatic units
would grow at a faster rate than those of the much cheaper semi-
automatic models.

"More people have realized that fully automatic machines are
easier to operate," he said.

He said that LG, which has a 22 percent market share for
washing machines, was targeting sales of the fully automatic
models to reach 55 percent of all units sold this year. The
fastest growth in the fully automatic segment, he added, would be
the high-end front-loading models.

"This year, we expect the market share of front-loading units
to reach 10 percent," said Waworuntu, adding that this year's
share stood at 7 percent of all units sold domestically.

Fully automatic washing machines consist of the basic top-
loading models, which cost between Rp 1 million (US$106) and Rp 5
million, and the more advanced front-loading models, which are
priced from Rp 3 million to Rp 10 million.

By contrast, semi-automatic models are sold at between Rp
850,000 and Rp 1.5 million, depending on the brand and type.

A front-loading washing machine, which generally costs twice
as much as a top-loading machine of a similar size, cleans
laundry more thoroughly and is gentler on the clothes, according
to Waworuntu.

He added that the front-loading machine usually had more
features, thus making it more complicated to operate.

"Most people who own the front-loading machine don't let their
maids operate it by themselves," he said.

Yanti, the maid, said she could care less whether she used a
semi-automatic, top-loader or front-loader.

"As long as I don't have to use my hands again to wash
clothes, it's fine with me," she said. (002)