R. Dijan Subromo, Contributor, Jakarta
Digital and Internet technology has become a source of inspiration for people. It has not only brought changes in offices but also in households. Home appliances have experienced a metamorphosis that makes them easier and more practical to use.
Some time ago LG Electronics, South Korea's second largest electronics company, introduced a new standard for household appliances called the Home Net. This new standard has experimented on establishing a ""smart home"" controlled solely from a control panel on the wall of a house. Using this panel, one can regulate all electronic household appliances, ranging from a refrigerator, a washing machine and a television set to an air conditioner.
The main panel also allows you to check the consumption of energy supplied by PLN state electricity company. Then you can pay the monthly electricity bill through the Internet after the main panel is connected to the Internet. Using this panel, you can also dispatch a video message to your neighbors.
When you and your family members are absorbed in watching TV and someone knocks on your door, you can monitor the visitor through the camera installed in the house and connected to your TV. The audio and video sets in your home will later pass on your response: whether to let the visitor in or ask them to leave a message. In short, all appliances and gadgets in this future home will be part of a dream home that will make it easy for the occupants to live in comfort and enjoy great ease without having to exert extra energy.
Not only electronic gadgets but also household appliances can be connected to this panel. One example is LG's GR-D267 DTU refrigerator. This refrigerator has an LCD touch-screen and an audio speaker that is connected to the Internet. While drinking a cold soda from the fridge, you can surf the Internet and check your inbox. At the same time, you can enjoy fresh songs from the MP3 that the fridge turns on!
Although it is still an experimental home, LG's Home Net is not alone. In Japan, Sharp, Toshiba and Hitachi have formed an alliance to draw up a standard for electronic household appliances that are connected in a data network. Meanwhile, Microsoft has also entered this world and has teamed up with a group promoting the development of household appliances that are connected to the Internet Home Appliances network.
Regardless of whether housewives like Internet-connected household appliances, the fact is that housewives everywhere must now face the reality of the emergence of smart household equipment/appliances. These appliances now carry the ""smart"" label as it is getting easier and easier to operate them. Directions for use are usually supplied with such appliances. In addition, its capacity is becoming wider and the appliances themselves are increasingly more environmentally friendly.
For the manufacturers, this highly potential market must be their target market. This is acknowledged by the sales director of PT Samsung Electronics Indonesia (PT SEIN), Christian Sudibyo, who, some time ago, described the product trend of digital home appliances to the media. Given the development of the premium mass-market, he said, his company is daring enough to set the sales of its top products at 50 percent of its sales this year.
Some types include products intended for the very high-class segment, for example, a convertible side-to-side refrigerator with a capacity of up to 506 liters. This refrigerator, which has four sections, each with a Quatro Cooling system, sells for Rp 45 million. Meanwhile, some other products, Christian said, are the latest innovations that Samsung has introduced for the premium mass market segment. ""With prices ranging between Rp 2.6 million and Rp 13.5 million, we can still say these products are intended for the premium segment,"" he noted.
As a reputable electronics producer, Samsung focuses on producing home appliances for this segment. Samsung, for example, no longer produces single-door or double-door refrigerators. Instead, it produces double-side refrigerators with a capacity of 300 liters and up. As for washing machines, Samsung no longer makes a semi-automatic washing machine with two tubs. Instead, it produces single tub automatic washing machines of the top-load and front-load types. The target market is no longer the mass user class but those who are more aware of the reliability and comfort of such products as part of a lifestyle.
""It may be said that our market share lies in trendy products and our focus on this area is considerable,"" added Stefanus Indrayana, marketing director of PT SEIN. ""In Indonesia, it is estimated that 75 percent of the refrigerators sold are those of the single-door type. In 2007, we have set a target for the sales growth of our refrigerators, washing machines and air conditioners at 50 percent,"" he added.
In view of the statistics of the sales, it is true that the home appliance market is indeed a market with high potential eyed by producers. Samsung, for example, sold 150,000 refrigerators and the same number of washing machines last year. The company also sold 100,000 air conditioners that year. That's why, it is quite reasonable for Samsung to eye the premium class that has begun to grow in major cities. In 2007, Indra said, the contribution of PT SEIN to the earnings of Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd, could reach US$1 billion.
Product-wise, it deserves a special note that the latest products introduced by modern household appliance producers have avant-garde technological innovations. Buyers wishing to purchase household appliances at relatively the same prices are now looking at the superior edge of the products, particularly concerning health and environmental considerations. It comes as no surprise, therefore, that many producers claim that their air conditioners, for example, ensure that the owners will remain free of SARS and avian flu as their air filtering system is so sophisticated it can ""kill viruses"".
Earlier, CFC-free refrigerators were accused of being one of the culprits for the gaping hole in the ozone layer, but today various international health certification and technological innovation certification institutions have also awarded citations to innovations in the technology used in household appliances as they are now more energy-efficient, cleaner and more hygienic. In addition, these appliances are also pollutant-free and are easy to operate. For one thing, they give greater comfort to kitchen work as they are connected to the Internet.
Modern housewives feel happy now as technology has made the handling of household affairs easier.
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