Internship Insights by IIM Kashipur students: Summer Internship Experience at Hafele

Amid pandemic, there was a lot of uncertainty about my commencement of Internship but Hafele onboarded us seamlessly and tweaked the projects to best suit the virtual mode of internship. Hafele India is a consumer durables company that is into categories like Architecture Hardware, Appliances, Lighting, to name a few. My role is more on the product side that demands analysis of the product features, competition analysis, and product gaps on a broader level.

On the 21st of May, I completed one month of internship and it has been an enriching journey so far. I got an opportunity to see the hardware industry so closely. I frequently get a chance to interact with the internal sales team and product team to understand much about the product. The market insights I get from them about the products are priceless. One such example is product packaging. Though I read about the importance of the product packaging in the curriculum, I realized and could relate to it more when I interacted with internal teams. There are many such examples. Moreover, it completely changed my way of looking at any product. Now, when I see any hardware product, many questions pop up like what are its testing standards? Who are its competitors?

Additionally, I am also working to devise a digital media strategy for Hafele franchises. This is completely new to me because I never explored this side of marketing. But I feel this is where summer internships really help, exploring uncharted territories and learning new things. We also get a chance to learn by executing them in real-time. Overall, it has been a cherishing journey so far. I am pretty excited for the second month in the journey as more deliverables are at hand to deliver.

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Chaitanya Sunkishala, Summer Intern, Hafele India Private Limited
Class of 2021 | IIM Kashipur