'The Power of Home Appliances' LG Electronics to Surpass Whirlpool in Sales This Year

[Asia Economy Reporter Suyeon Woo] LG Electronics' first-quarter sales this year have surpassed those of Whirlpool in the United States, leading to projections that LG Electronics will become the number one home appliance company by annual sales.

According to industry sources on the 25th, US-based Whirlpool recorded first-quarter sales of $5.358 billion (approximately 5.9 trillion KRW) and operating profit of $618 million (approximately 690 billion KRW). This represents a strong performance with sales up about 24% and operating profit up about 135% compared to the same period last year.

During the same period, LG Electronics' Home Appliance & Air Solution (H&A) division's preliminary results are estimated to have exceeded 6 trillion KRW in sales and 800 billion KRW in operating profit. Due to the extended time spent at home during the COVID-19 pandemic, demand for home appliances surged, and recently, with global economic recovery following vaccination campaigns, retaliatory consumption demand has increased, leading the global home appliance industry to experience a peak boom.

LG Objet Collection / Photo by LG Electronics

With LG Electronics' H&A division surpassing Whirlpool's sales and operating profit in the first quarter, there are forecasts that LG Electronics will emerge as the world's largest home appliance company based on annual sales this year. According to foreign media such as Bloomberg, Whirlpool's expected sales this year are around $20.499 billion (approximately 22.9 trillion KRW), while domestic securities firms project LG Electronics' expected sales to exceed 24 trillion KRW this year.

LG Electronics, which decided to exit the mobile phone business this year, plans to strengthen its portfolio with future-oriented businesses such as home appliances, automotive components, and the B2B market. In particular, it aims to secure profitability by strengthening its premium product lineup, including the new home appliance category of space interior appliances, 'LG Objet Collection,' and plans to expand its rental business, which has shown an average annual growth rate of over 50% in the past five years, through differentiated care solution services unique to LG Electronics.

Cha Yumi, a researcher at Mirae Asset Securities, said, "LG Electronics has a high proportion of new home appliances such as stylers and dryers, and showed steady sales growth even during periods of stagnant demand in the home appliance market due to the expansion of its premium lineup. In contrast, Whirlpool focused more on volume expansion rather than premium products, showing a slowdown in sales across all product categories."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.