Dishwasher sales boom in Pune after lockdown

PUNE: Having had to deal with all household chores and office work by herself during the lockdown, the first thing working professional Pooja Khelani did after the lockdown eased was to book a dishwasher for her residence. Khelani states that installing a dishwasher has brought her relief.
"I am all alone at home, managing chores and work. I was extremely dependent on domestic help for the chores and when the lockdown was announced, I was overloaded with work. I booked a dishwasher as soon as the lockdown was eased. My maid still doesn't come to work and the dishwasher has made life easy," Khelani said.
Like Khelani, thousands of households have opted to install dishwashers during Unlock 1.0.
Group Business Manager (Home & Entertainment), Croma, Rajeev Singh said that a situation-driven demand has been witnessed since the lockdown eased. "People are opting for entry-level models that start at about Rs 36,000. We have never seen sale of more than 5 or 6 pieces a month in Pune but now it has gone to 20 or 25 pieces since the stores opened in May. Even the companies producing appliances were not ready for this kind of demand and many ran out of stock. We would generally get orders of dishwashers in 3 to 4 days but recently a lag of 7 to 10 days was noticed in delivery," he stated.
Owner of Narendra Electronics, near Parvati, Pooja Luniya said, "The demand is very high and we have already sold about 40 pieces in the last 2 weeks. Dishwasher sales would stand at 3 to 4 pieces annually. Even now, we have multiple enquiries for dishwashers and we have been placing weekly orders for new stock."
Another electronics dealer said, "We had ordered air conditioners and air coolers in January and February in preparation for the summer but the lockdown was then announced. Since we opened two weeks ago, we have been seeing heaviest demand for dishwashers while our stock of ACs and coolers sits at our godown. We had a few pieces of dishwashers only and have had to place new orders repeatedly to meet the demand."