Walton’s leap forward in electronics marketing

Bangladeshi electronics and tech giant Walton is going to start selling elevators and all-in-one desktops in domestic markets as well as exporting air conditioners and refrigerators to India and smartphones to the United States.

As the first Bangladeshi company, Walton on Sunday will launch sales of at least five types of electronic products both in the local and international markets.

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal, Posts, Telecommunications and ICT Minister Mustafa Jabbar and ICT State Minister Zunaid Ahmed Palak will inaugurate the sales activities at the firm's Gazipur plant.

Walton officials said they have already begun producing elevators with European technology in a bid to sell them in local markets at half the cost of imported lifts.

Homemade Walton elevators is available in the market now.

At present, Bangladesh has an annual demand for 5,000 units of elevators whose estimated market value is about Tk1,000 crore, according to Udoy Hakim, chief executive officer of Walton.

"We will be able to capture the major share of the market once we begin commercial sales of the product. It will also save a huge amount of foreign currency," he said.

According to company sources, Walton initiated manufacturing world standard elevators locally in 2014. It set up a plant and installed machinery there. Two years ago from now, it began production.

Since then, the company has been using self-manufactured elevators at its factory and offices. It has also marketed some products on test basis.

The firm currently markets two types of elevators – passenger lifts with a capacity of 300kg-3,000kg and cargo lifts with a capacity of 800kg-4,500kg.

Walton ACs, refrigerators going to India
In order to sell air conditioners (ACs) and refrigerators in Indian markets for the next two years, Walton has already inked deals with Korean giant Hyundai and Indian Reliance.

During this period, the company will export 26,000 units of AC and 1,00,000 pieces of refrigerators to the South Asian neighbour.

Chief Executive Officer Udoy Hakim said the export of Walton products to India will increase in the future.

Walton has established business relations with India's Reliance Retail to supply consumer electronic goods such as refrigerators, television sets and ACs to that country, he also said.

The Indian company has also expressed keenness to buy Walton's various other electronic goods including washing machines, Udoy added.

Walton smartphones in the US
Walton, as a first local company, is set to export smart handsets to the USA. Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal will inaugurate the supply activity on Sunday.

To this aim, the company has already signed an agreement with a US firm.

However, Walton has not published its handset export target even though it has an annual capacity to produce 70 lakh smartphones in its factory.

Company source said the first consignment of the smartphones, which would be priced between $100 and $200, will be out of the gates of Walton Digi-Tech Industries' plant in Chandra, Gazipur on Sunday.

"The dream of exporting 'Made in Bangladesh' smartphones is now coming true," said SM Monjurul Alam, managing director of Walton.

He maintained that the quality of the locally-made smartphones with advanced features has drawn buyers' attention.

All-in-one desktops
Walton began operating its computer and laptop plant at Chandra in January 2018.

At present, the company manufactures desktop, laptop, monitor, RAM and all computer accessories at its own plant.

Now, it is going to launch all-in-one computers produced based on latest technologies.

Primarily, Walton has manufactured three types of such computers with 21.5-inch full-HD screens. It has used Intel's eighth and ninth generation technologies to develop these computers with a price ranging between Tk46,950 and Tk55,500.

An all-in-one computer is a combination of a desktop and a laptop. It integrates the computer case and system components into the monitor so that the entire computer is contained all in one unit. It is as powerful as a desktop while, at the same time, occupies less space.