Haier thermocool marks 5 years in Ghana; confident of dominating sector

Haier Thermocool, distributors of state-of-the-art home appliances, marked their five years in Ghana at an impressive ceremony in Accra with a firm promise to increase their share of the electronics market in the next five years.

Delivering his address at the Movenpick Hotel, where the ceremony took place, Mr Nigel Simonz, Area Director of PZ Cussons - who are one of the partners of the Haier Thermocool brand - noted that the success of the brand in Ghana is rooted in the firm's excellent after-sales-services, innovative products and promotions.

The PZ Cussons Plc and China-based Haier Group joint venture started marketing the Haier brand some 40 years ago in Nigeria, but it was first launched in Ghana on February 2008 with the aim of delivering reliable, innovative and quality products to consumers in the country.

Nigel Simonz is confident the Haier Thermocool brand will take a significant portion of the market share of home appliances in the coming years because, as he noted, "our heritage in the country gives us a unique competitive advantage to help ensure that our products are right for Ghanaian consumers. So we are very confident."

He said the brand's unique robustness provide customers with unparalleled value for money. He noted that the range of solutions which the brand offers in terms of reliable home appliances will be the differentiating factor for the premium Haier thermocool brands in subsequent years.

The Haier Thermocool brand, which includes washing machines, TVs, Microwaves, air conditioners, fridges, freezers, cookers among others are designed to suit the tropical West African environment, said Mr Simonz.

"The next five years looks very positive. There a number of economic challenges around the world at the moment, however, we know that the Ghanaian economy has a number of positive prospects -the rising affluence of the middle class and urbanisation is a trend that we are seeing across Africa so we are very positive on the prospects", noted Nigel Simonz.

Also present at the ceremony was the Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry, Nii Lantey Vandapuye, who lauded the efforts of PZ Cussons and Haier Group and assured them of Government's support in their endeavour to grow.

"I would, therefore, encourage the management of PZ Electricals [an off-shoot of the PZ Cussons Plc] and Haier to consider establishing a manufacturing or an assembling plant in Ghana", he said.

Mr Vandpuye noted that "Ghana's current pattern of development put a lot of stress on the environment. The total economic cost of poor environment management and sanitation is over 10% of Ghana's GPD", and hence urged the company to partner government to solve the increasing environmental problems.

Board Chairman of PZ Cussons Ghana, Paul Pepera, also expressed confidence in the progress of the brand in the coming years.

He noted that the Haier brand's unbeatable and innovative marketing activities have been the reason for their success over the last five years.

PZ Cussons' Head of Sales, Samuel Acquah, awarded prizes to their distributors nationwide in acknowledgement of their dedication and hard work over the years.