Updated Article: Best Solar Panels in India 2019
Solar panels have become the basic units for generating electricity. The popularity of solar energy in generating power is attributed to its improving efficiencies and reducing costs. Solar energy has gradually reached grid parity with almost all states in India and has become a convenient options for power generation in places located far from the grid.
According to our analysis, people install solar panels for three basic reasons:
- To reduce Electricity Bill
- To store excess power and
- Inspired by Neighbourhoods
Today, there are a lot of options available to common people to choose solar panels. Thanks to the internet, a potential buyer has ample brands to choose from. He can also study the features and compare different brands available in the market through information found on the internet. However, the pattern which a potential buyer chooses also differs from person to person. Based on their methodology, we have divided the buyers into different categories and studied their pattern of selecting their favorite solar panel brand. Hope this analogy will help you too, in choosing your solar panel.
Classification of Potential Solar Buyers
The solar buyers in India can be conveniently divided into three categories:
- Layman - accounting for 60% of the total buyers
- Technical - accounting for 20% of the total and
- Brand Conscious - accounting for the remaining 20%
#Customer Type -1: Layman Person
Who is a Layman Person?
A layman person is one who has heard about solar technology but does not know the finer details. He has an idea that he needs to install solar panels for his home or commercial establishment, but is clueless about the specifications, brands etc.
For example, doctors, cricketers, celebrities, businessmen, NRI, education industry, real estate players, etc.
How does a Layman Person buy Solar Panel in India?
Let’s see how a layman person searches for a solar system for him home or business online.
Step-1: Search Online
A Layman person looks for options in top search queries like, 1 kW solar system price in India, 1 kW solar panel for home, 1 kW solar system price for 3/2 BHK house, etc. You can see the Google SERP result below.
Step-2: Choose Website
Based upon his search, he gets a list of Indian and international solar websites like Urjakart, Industrybuying, Kenbrook Solar, Indiamart, Pricenmore, Sukam, Waree, LuminousIndia, Amazon, Loom Solar, Flipkart, Microtek, Bijlibachao, etc. Several international solar websites like EnegrySage, Energyinformative, Altenergy, Wholesalessolar, Solarpowerauthority, and more are also returned in the search results. A reader generally clicks on top one to 5 results displayed on the screen.
As per our observation, international solar websites gives better information about solar energy products. They provide better answers to a customer’s basic queries like - what is a solar panel, types of solar panel, efficiency of solar panel, how does solar panel work, solar panel installation, etc. A layman should prefer exploring these websites, if he is interested to learn about solar energy products and the technology.
On the other hand, Indian solar websites give better results about a wide range of solar energy products, such as solar panel, solar inverter, solar battery, solar charge controller & solar mounting structure with solar installation kits. You can buy solar products from these websites, if you have plan to install solar panels.
Loom Solar is one of India’s premium solar brand store where you can get solar energy product information, watch solar product videos, read customer testimonial, and get better deals etc. Please visit Loom Solar website, if you are looking for India’s best selling solar products.
Step-3: Explore Website
After the potential customer has chosen to stay at a particular website, he should explore the given website and learn more about the desired solar products. Let’s take the example of Loom Solar, the user explores website and wants to know more about the company’s background and the required solar products.
Step-4: Contact the Brand
After exploring website for 4-5 minutes, if the reader is impressed he may choose to contact ‘Loom Solar’ via the toll-free number, email, chat, WhatsApp, comment, FAQ, etc. Why contacting the brand is important:
- To know more about their product selection. A layman is always in doubt whether he is buying the right product or not because he lacks technical knowledge and solar panel/ kit is a technical product.
- To know more about the company. In this example it is Loom Solar. A buyer will feel at ease once he has spoken to some company representative. There are several questions in his mind like whether Loom Solar is a trusted solar company? How will the company deliver products at my location? Whether the company is in a good position to honour its warranty etc.?
Loom Solar experts understand the customer’s requirements very well and clear all doubts of the customers. Once the customer’s queries are satisfied by our smart solar expert, he moves forward.
Step-5: Talk to the Solar Expert
If the customer is impressed he will go ahead and buy the products online, such as solar panel, solar inverter, solar battery, solar charge controller and mounting structure.
However, we suggest home visit when the customer wants to install solar system above 3 kW. The reason being our engineer is in a better position to understand rooftop space requirements, strength of the rooftop, power consumption and loads, etc.
Step-6: Buy Solar Energy Products
Finally, the customers can place the order successfully through many different payment options such as:
- Cash on Delivery (CoD)
- EMI
- Pay Online via Master Card/Debit Card/Visa
- Instamojo
- Paytm
#Customer Type -2: Technical Person
Who are the Technical Person?
The second category of potential buyers are known as technical persons. These people know about SKU (i.e. 100/ 150/ 200/ 250/ 300/ 315/ 350 watt solar panel). They are generally people working in or acquainted with solar technology. For example, installer, dealer, manufacturers, solar expert, etc. They might be looking for installing solar panels at their residence or for re-selling.
Step-1: Search SKU - latest
Technical person follows same Step-1 & 2 as the layman, but they already have the basic information/ knowledge. They are more interested in knowing about the SKU, lowest price, best selling brands, top manufacturers, etc.
Step-2: Relevant Page
Since the technical people already know the basic features of solar products, they are now looking for the best brands and comparing their prices. They directly visit the product pages and are more interested to know about brand, warranty, per watt cost, space requirements, input/output power, volt, ampere, etc. He is basically looking for the best deal available in the market for the products/ brands he has chosen.
Step-3: Contact Us
Technical person takes support by calling at our customer care number – 8750 77 88 00 from the website. We help him with all his queries and are available Monday to Saturday from 9:00 AM till 9:00 PM.
Step-4: Bulk Order
As mentioned above, technical persons include installer, dealer, manufacturers, solar expert, etc. They generally place order for reselling from Loom Solar and therefore, have a big order size. Given below is the summary of an order placed by a technical person.
#Customer Type -3: Brand Conscious Person
Who is a Brand Conscious Person?
A brand conscious person has only heard about the brand (i.e. Luminous, Microtek, Sukam, Waree, Sunfuel, Tata, etc.), but does not know any other detail. They will compare prices of all the brands, but in reality do not care about the price involved and will ultimately end up buying the brand he has heard about.
For example, super rich person
Step-1: Search Solar Brand
A brand conscious person knows about brands through offline market, magazines, news, events, success stories, media releases, influencer sites, social media sites, piece of mouth, etc. He knows about the brand through trusted sources and nothing else. To quench his curiosity he looks up in Google and learns about Luminous solar panel product for example.
Step-2: View Brands
Such a type of customer will look at different choices available in the market but has already decided to go for a particular brand that he has learned from his trusted source. These type of buyers prefer to see the multiple brands at a single outlet. At Loom Solar we list top solar brands/manufacturers of solar products such as Luminous, Microtek, Sukam, Trina, Sunfuel, Waaree, etc. Loom Solar has exclusive tie-up with these brands.
Step-3: Contact Us
This happens the same way as we discussed earlier. A brand conscious buyer will not buy a solar system of small size ie. 1 kW. He generally has a bigger establishment and hence places an order or a larger size. He likes to place the order in the traditional way - calls technicians of different brands for home visit, takes quotation from all and finally places the order. He prefers to buy the brand he had in mind, but also considers a good pricing deal, presentation of the technician etc. in making his decision.
Note: We have recently published a blog in which we have discussed the whole procedure about on-grid solar system. In this blog, we have also discussed how to request an engineer for home visit.
Read more: How to install an on-grid solar system in 10 simple steps
Step-4: Place Order
After home visit, he finally decides to buy solar system. He preferably buys 3 kW – 100 kW solar system online from Loom Solar.
Let’s overview of solar panel:
Loom Solar Private Limited deals 10 Watt – 100 kW, but standard solar panel’s SKU is 100 watt, 180 watt, 200 watt, 250 watt, 300 watt, 335 watt & 350 watt in the Indian solar industry.
Loom Solar Panel Price
Loom solar 180 watt solar panel is made of A grade black silicon anti PID mono cells to generate electricity from sun. The cells are made of superior quality silicon which gives higher efficiency up to 20% and also performs better in low light. It is the latest panels in mono crystalline technology that comes with 5 busbars 36 cells and 25 years performance warranty.
Luminous Solar Panel Price
Luminous Power Technologies is a leading energy company in India providing a wide range of power back up, electrical and LED lighting solutions. Luminous offers a wide range of solar products like panels, UPS and batteries. Luminous Solar Panel comes in both mono- and poly- crystalline variants. They can be installed at your homes, small shops and other commercial establishments.
Microtek Solar Panel Price
Microtek is another manufacturer of power products and solutions in India. Microtek Solar Panel range from 50 W to 320 W. They are best known for their inverter solutions as well.
Sukam Solar Panel Price
Su-Kam is the largest inverter manufacturer in India. The company produces and sells power solutions including battery, inverters, UPS systems, solar solutions. Sukam Solar Panels come in a wide power output range to serve different purposes. They come in a wide range from 10W – 250W. These panels come with 25 years warranty and are designed to withstand the extreme weather conditions in India.
Waaree & Sunfuel Solar Panel Price
During polysilicon manufacturing, it is possible to grow pure silicon made of a single crystal. The solar panels made out of this single crystal of pure silicon is called monocrystalline solar panel. Monocrystalline solar panel technology has long lived in the shadows of multicrystalline solar panel technology. Monocrystalline solar panels are regarded as more expensive but they are more efficient.
Conclusion
So you see there are ample options to choose and buy solar panels from. Prudence must be exercised while making the choice as solar panels constitute nearly 60% of the total cost of a solar system, taking into account the different factors like price, location, technology etc involved. There exists different types of buyers based upon their knowledge and awareness of solar technology and we have already seen their buying patterns. It is good if you can identify yourself in any of the above mentioned categories. You can then follow the steps to buy the perfect solar panel for yourself. Even if you cannot clearly identify yourself with any of these categories, you roughly know how to go about choosing and buying that perfect solar panel for yourself. Best of luck with your search!
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