Thursday, November 15, 2007 Firm eyes bigger RP market
AS it opens its concept shop in Cebu, Samsung Electronics bared plans to double its growth and get a bigger share of the Philippine market.
Antonio Mauricio, Samsung Electronics Philippines Corp. general manager-consumer electronics team, said the company expects double-digit growth this year and intends to achieve the same in 2008.
Samsung, together with partners Asian Home and Junrex Cellphones, opened a concept shop at the Ayala Center Cebu yesterday.
Mauricio said the shop is intended to “make our presence stronger here.”
The concept shop is the first in Cebu and in Visayas. Last year, Samsung opened a concept shop in Cagayan de Oro, also in partnership with local dealers.
Technology
Mauricio said the concept shop will highlight the technology that Samsung has developed, particularly products “that are designed with convergence of features and functions in mind.”
The concept shop features Samsung’s latest LCD and Slim Fit TVs, home theater systems, mobile phones, electronic gadgets (digital camera and MP3 players), computer monitors and printers.
In an interview with the press after the opening, Mauricio said the Samsung concept shop will not compete with the company’s partners as it will carry mainly high-end and flagship products of the company.
He added that the shop will cater to market types A and B, which have more buying power.
He said Samsung believes that most of the potentials for growth of its Philippine arm are in the Visayas and Mindanao, not in Metro Manila. This is the reason that the company plans to establish concept shops in key cities in the Visayas and Mindanao.
He said Cebu is the appropriate place for the first concept shop in Visayas because it accounts for more than 40 percent of economic activities in the region.
“With the concept shop here, we feel that Samsung can grow more,” he said.
He said Samsung will open more concept shops in key cities in the Visayas and Mindanao if there are partners who are willing to go into a joint venture setup with the company.
Target
“Our target is to dominate the market with the Slim Fit TV and get 90 percent (of the nationwide market) by 2009,” he said.
He said Samsung will also put more focus on marketing its MP3 players and digital cameras.
He said Samsung, which sets aside 10 percent of its annual income on research and development, will launch next year an LCD TV that is a function to converge information technology and entertainment features.
International brand research agency GFK declared Samsung as the number one in LCD (liquid crystal display) TV in 2006.
The parent company of Samsung, which develops semiconductors, telecommunication media, digital media and digital convergence technologies, enjoyed a net income of $8.5 billion last year. It considers the United States and Europe as its biggest markets. (LAP)
