The air conditioner market is booming.

(Baonghean.vn) -With intense heatwaves consistently forecast to exceed 40 degrees Celsius, the home appliance and refrigeration market has been experiencing a massive surge in demand in recent days. During the two weekend days (Saturday and Sunday, May 18-19), many electronics supermarkets such as Hoa Binh and An Thinh ran out of stock and lacked sufficient technicians for installation and maintenance.

At the Thu Cúc electronics store on Quang Trung Street, we met Mr. Nam from Hung Loc who was helping staff load a 9,000 BTU Panasonic air conditioner onto a truck. Mr. Nam said he had ordered the unit more than a week ago and it had only just arrived. The past few days have been scorching hot; even with two standing fans on in the bedroom, the heat couldn't be dispelled. "I chose a new generation air conditioner with Inverter technology for energy saving. Normally, this model costs around 9 million VND, but due to high demand, the price has been pushed up to 10 million VND," Mr. Nam said.

At the same time as several customers came to inquire about air conditioner installation, a pickup truck also arrived with a shipment. Ms. Cúc, the shop owner, said: "We placed the order more than a week ago and only just received the goods. In the past few days, the market has been short of air conditioners; customers have been asking a lot, but we haven't had any to sell, especially Panasonic models. About a month ago, a 9,000 BTU, single-direction Panasonic air conditioner without antibacterial air purification features, made in Malaysia, cost only 7.5 million VND, but now it has increased to 8.5 million VND, including installation and delivery."

Due to increased demand, many stores have to wait up to a week for stock.

At CK Media supermarket, Ms. Nguyen Thi Tu – Deputy General Director of CK Group – said that since the beginning of May, both of the company's supermarkets, CK Media and Hoa Binh electronics supermarket, have sold over 100 air conditioners, not including fans and refrigerators. Although they anticipated an overload and hired more technicians and ordered more stock, due to the high volume of customers, those who placed orders now have to wait 1-2 days for installation. Sales of air conditioners alone have increased by 500% compared to normal days.

I met Hai, a technician who specializes in installing air conditioners for shops. He told me: "I've been doing this job for almost 3 years now. Normally, I only get orders to install about 1-2 units a day, but with the current heat, it can go up to 5 units a day, and I get paid 200,000-300,000 VND per unit. And it's not just in Vinh; we also get installation jobs in some neighboring areas like Cua Lo, Nghi Loc, and Hung Nguyen, but because it's further away, the fee is higher."

According to Hai, although air conditioners equipped with Inverter technology are not as energy-efficient as advertised and are more expensive than regular models, they are still popular. Inverter air conditioners only truly save electricity when running for 3-4 hours or more. If run for only a short time, such as 1-2 hours, their electricity consumption is not significantly lower than that of non-Inverter air conditioners.

Customers buy air conditioners at CK Media Supermarket.

The air conditioner market currently offers a wide variety of products from brands such as Samsung, LG, Daewoo, Daikin, Toshiba, Panasonic, Fujitsu, etc., with diverse prices and features. Air conditioners with a capacity of 9,000 BTU cost from 6 to over 10 million VND/unit, those with a capacity of 12,000 BTU - 16,000 BTU cost from 8 to 15 million VND/unit, and those with a capacity of 18,000 - 24,000 BTU cost from 17 to 25 million VND. However, the most popular is still the smaller 9,000 BTU model, and the preferred brand remains Panasonic.

Besides the traditional wall-mounted type, the market now also offers floor-standing and ceiling-mounted air conditioners. However, wall-mounted air conditioners for home use are still experiencing the strongest growth.

Text and photos: Viet Phuong