Consumer Asks 1: Brand distinction

Consumer Asks 1: Brand distinction

From Superfan, India’s first super energy efficient ceiling fan

This is blog is based on a comment from one of our older blog,

How to differentiate between true manufacturers and marketers in the ceiling fan industry? What’s the difference between 28W & 35W ceiling fans? Does the lesser wattage mean more energy efficiency? How natural breeze mode in Super A1 work? 

The distinctions between brands are not just manufacturing and marketing, there is an addition – designers, manufacturers, marketers.

  • Designers – Develop their own technology (Own the technology).
  • Manufacturers – Borrows/Copies/Licenses technology and manufacture on their own.
  • Marketers – Buys from a manufacturer and puts their label.

From the list of brands in the comment, 

Designers

Superfan

We were the first super energy efficient ceiling fan in India, and our company is one of the premier motor control experts in the country. We have patents on our design.

Manufacturers

Superfan

We manufacture our fans in Coimbatore, India.

Atomberg (Gorilla)

They have derived the initial design from TI and have been manufacturing their fans in Mumbai and Hyderabad. Over the years they modified the design as per the need.

Jupiter

They derive the design from others and manufacture their fans in Delhi.

Marketers

Ottomate, Panasonic, OCECO, Crompton

These brands borrow the design and outsource their manufacturing. In the case of Crompton, they outsource their BLDC fans to a Chinese manufacturer.

Difference between 28W and 35 W

Superfan released the first super energy efficient ceiling fan in 2012 and marketed it as 35 W even though the certified power consumption was 33 W. When other brands followed our footsteps they began citing power consumption of less than 35 W to gain an edge.

In reality, it is just a marketing gimmick. Consider this, if Atomberg fans are giving 230 CMM air delivery at 28 W, what would be the air delivery at 35 W? If it is more than 230 CMM, then it would make a good business sense to market the fans as the fans that give 260 CMM (or the value that is more than 230CMM) air delivery better than any other fans. After all, fans are for delivering airflow rather than to save power.

Over the years, Atomberg has been using cheap marketing gimmick to gain an edge in the market by bending the facts (Like their 28W fans as the most energy-efficient fans in India). They have very good BLDC fans, and there is a reason that they lead the market in certain segments. It is just disappointing that they have to resort to cheap tactics to trick the customers.

A1- breeze control

There is no smart algorithm to simulate a breeze, it is a simple toggling signal between two speeds (3 and 5 or 1 and 3). The natural speed ramp up depending on the load on the fan determines the period of the speed oscillation. The presence of a micro-controller in BLDC fans offers unlimited control over the speed of the fan. Hence simulating a required speed oscillation is a simple development, but we never received a market requirement regarding the breeze mode. We are not familiar with the Panasonic algorithm.

More questions to ask before buying a BLDC fan

We must consider certain vital aspects while choosing BLDC fans. Please indulge us for the following advice,

  • Replacement fan: If you replacing a working condition AC induction motor fan that is not used more than 2 hours a day, please reconsider your purchase. As replacing a working fan that is not used enough may not justify a replacement would waste materials.
  • #bevocalforlocal: Consider supporting Indian manufacturers and designers when you buy appliances. It will encourage our economy to come up with future solutions. Beware that sometimes Indian brand may not mean the Indian business, do your research on where your money goes.

8 thoughts on “Consumer Asks 1: Brand distinction

  1. I don’t see proper channel to know the status of the order. 9498078601/9498078607 are number provided by customer care to know the status, but when i call they are not picking the call. Even if i login also i don’t see where my order is pending. Even after a week the order is not delivered and i don’t have the tracking details.

    1. We are really sorry for the inconvenience caused. Your tracking details will be sent as an SMS as soon as we process your order. Please stay connected.

  2. We would like to see the performance of Super Q series with service value 9.0 and the pricing.
    Recently I purchased X1 series but I dont see Q series in your website.
    Only BEE website says you have Super Q series
    Is this not meant for general public?
    Major problem user faces is the lack of service network

    1. Dear SuperFan, we appreciate your thorough research to gather an in-depth understanding of Superfan. Super Q series is for everybody, it will be released later this year in the retail/online market. We are supplying Q series to certain select large volume customers as a pilot run. We are expanding our service network rapidly. Please let us know if you need any assistance.

    1. The label that was mentioned is the Brand Label. The Label Period is the validity of the star labelling given by BEE. After the labelling period, the fan is not eligible to be considered as efficinet.

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