Singer celebrates 130 years

Shirajiv Sirimane

ANNIVERSARY: Singer Sri Lanka, which is the first company to introduce sewing machines to the country, is celebrating 130 years in business.

"Singer founded in 1877 in the then Ceylon was the first company to introduce easy payment terms to the country and this was also one of their key successes to remain in the business even today," Marketing Manager Singer Sri Lanka, Asita Abayasekera said.

A sewing machine was sold for around Rs. 60 to 100 and the monthly interest free installment was around Rs. 5 during the time. (Today a Singer machine is around Rs. 14,000).

He said that over 60 percent of Sri Lankans use sewing machines and over 85 percent of them will own a Singer sewing machine. "However today more people are paying spot cash and buying them," he said.

Abayasekera said that the company first started assembling sewing machines in 1960 and their factory was first located at Rajagiriya and subsequently shifted to Ratmalana.

Singer Sri Lanka was formed in 1950. Today modern technology has been introduced to the extent that a person could e-mail a design and it could be printed from a Singer sewing machine coupled to a computer.

"Even designs drawn on computer can be sewed to dresses," he said. Abayasekera, said that one of their key successes to earn a higher market share was their widespread distribution network which has 270 showrooms, 8 Singer mega outlets and 12 Modern home outlets.

With the introduction of the open economy in 1977 the company diversified to the electronic and the refrigerator sector.

In addition to marketing Singer refrigerators the company also bought over the Sisil brand, Abayasekera claims that they have over one billion sales.

Singer Sri Lanka also was voted as the 'most popular brand of the year' at the last A. C. Nielson SLIM awards ceremony and won the 'Durable brand of the year' award.

In addition Singer was voted as the 'Teen Brand of the Year.'

He said that this is a clear indication that the Brand commands a major market share and people still have faith in their products.

Furniture followed by the sale of Lanka Bell phones is some of the novel items, which have been introduced by the company.

"Today 22 percent of our revenue is generated from the electronic market while 15 percent is from the sewing machine segment," he said.

The company with a 80 percent stake with Singer Asia and 20 percent stake in the stock market had a Rs. 11 billion turnover last year.