Blue Star expands market reach with the launch of new affordable range of split ACs to cater to the mass market

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B. Thiagarajan, MD, Blue Star Limited

Mumbai, 17th March 2021 (GNI): Blue Star, India’s leading air conditioning brand and known for its premium products, today announced the launch of its new range of ‘Mass Premium’ split air conditioners. The Company has strategically repositioned its brand to include the ‘Mass Premium’ category with the intent to expand its market reach and target the mass market.

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New range of split ACs at affordable prices

Blue Star’s air conditioners, with the capability of delivering best-in-class cooling, are well known for quality, reliability and durability, making Blue Star one of the significant players in the industry.

Now, with this strategic foray, Blue Star has rolled out a series of split ACs at affordable prices, which are of the same high quality, reliability, and durability, that all products from Blue Star promise.

The value proposition of this new range is “Affordable Cooling with Blue Star’s High Quality ACs.”

The new range comprises 3-star, 4-star, and 5-star inverter split air conditioners that are available at attractive prices starting from Rs 25,990/- for a 0.80TR 3-star inverter split AC. The ACs are available in various cooling capacities ranging from 0.80TR to 2TR.

With this launch, Blue Star now offers products across various price points to cater to emerging and varied needs of the customers.

The range is embedded with various customer-friendly features and specifications such as: ‘Eco-Mode’ for energy-saving; ‘Blue Fin’ coating for both IDUs and ODUs for longer life; ‘Comfort Sleep’ function that auto adjusts the AC temperature during night time for better comfort of occupants as well as power savings; and ‘Self-Diagnosis’ for troubleshooting to protect the AC from any critical failures. Besides, these ACs have a metal enclosure for the PCBs to ensure additional safety.   

Another significant aspect of Blue Star’s inverter ACs is that they have a wide operating voltage range, thus eliminating the need for an external voltage stabiliser. This not only saves on the cost of the stabiliser but also does away with the need for space to mount one beside the AC.

India being a tropical country is subjected to extreme summers. The urban heat phenomenon further increases the temperature in urban areas. While a typical air conditioner delivers its rated capacity at 35°C, which is the rated condition, and derates at higher ambient temperatures, Blue Star offers ACs which can deliver 100% cooling even beyond 35°C, resulting in faster and more efficient cooling even in peak summers.        

The entire inverter range uses R-32 eco-friendly refrigerant.

Blue Star’s room ACs – ‘Owned by Virat, Loved by Virat’

Virat Kohli continues to be Blue Star’s brand ambassador for room ACs for yet another promising season. Backed by their expertise and consistent performance, both Virat and Blue Star are highly ‘Trusted’ in their respective fields, and it is this ‘Trust’ that has been the winning factor for both of them. Besides, Virat’s mass appeal has been enabling the Company to connect to and widen its TG from Tier 1 and Tier 2 to Tier 3, 4 and 5 towns.

The Company has rolled out a new TV commercial featuring Virat Kohli which is curated around the thought of ‘Happiness is a fast-cooling AC,’ and showcases Virat rescuing hapless people from a slow cooling AC. ‘Owned by Virat, Loved by Virat,’ these fast-cooling split ACs are definitely the need of the hour!

Innovative product range

Apart from the ‘Mass Premium’ series of air conditioners, Blue Star had also recently launched a range of innovative ACs comprising ACs with in-built air purifiers that improve the indoor air quality; ACs with 30% more cooling than the rated cooling capacity; ACs with next-generation smart wi-fi and voice command technology; and inverter ACs with hot & cool inverter technology; amongst others.

Future-ready ACs

Blue Star has also launched a range of future-ready 3-star inverter split ACs that will meet the 3-star BEE rating of 2022.

Manufacturing and R&D prowess

Blue Star’s manufacturing footprint spans five state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities. The Company also has one of the best AHRI-certified R&D facilities in India with the largest talent pool of engineers. This has helped the Company in incorporating cutting edge technologies in all its new products.

Widely penetrated distribution and service network: The Company has an extensive and robust network of channel partners as well as service associates across the country, with 90% of the Company’s transactional interface with these partners being digitised. At the same time, the Company continues to significantly expand its retail distribution reach. Blue Star’s room air conditioners are available at 7000 outlets in 650 locations spread across the length and breadth of the country in various formats. Currently, Blue Star has 200 exclusive brand stores in the country, and work is in progress to increase it to 250 stores by the end of FY22. The products are also available on various e-commerce portals. The Company has a strong installation and service franchise network to support retailers.

On the Service front, Blue Star is the country’s largest after-sales air conditioning and commercial refrigeration service provider with a spectrum of world-class customer service solutions and other value-added services. Backed by its value proposition of Gold Standard service delivery, Blue Star has extensively expanded its service reach to Tier 2, 3 and 4 towns and is currently serving 3900 towns. The Company has inducted more than 150 service crew vans pan-India to enable commuting of its service technicians to various customer sites within stipulated targeted response times.

Extended warranties and easy financing*

All Blue Star ACs are backed by an assured comprehensive warranty for the first year. In addition, the inverter split ACs enjoy an additional warranty of 9 years for the compressor, thereby providing 10 years of warranty overall for the compressor. The Company also provides an additional warranty on the PCB for inverter ACs in both the IDUs and ODUs, for 4 years. Further, an extended warranty of 4 years can be availed on inverter ACs. All the additional/extended warranties commence on the completion of the first year from the date of installation.  

Blue Star also facilitates purchase of its ACs through easy financing options. Customers can avail of attractive finance at zero percent interest with easy EMI options. There are also cash-back offers via tie-ups with leading banks and finance firms.  

*Terms & Conditions apply

Management outlook

Speaking to the Press at a conference held at Mumbai, B Thiagarajan, Managing Director, Blue Star Limited, said, “We have strategically repositioned ourselves as a ‘Masstige’ brand with the launch of our new range of split ACs, to cater to the mass market and expand our market reach. ‘Affordability’ while retaining Blue Star’s ‘Premium Build Quality’ is the criterion which we have focused upon for this season’s launch. This move is well aligned to our last year’s aim of shifting orbit and accelerating growth by garnering a mass appeal cutting across geographies and demographics. We are progressing well on our chosen trajectory, and we will continue to leverage our brand salience and association with Virat Kohli to march further ahead in this direction.” ends