Panasonic stepping up digital camera sales
Panasonic stepping up digital camera sales
WORANUJ MANEERUNGSEE
Bangkok Post, Thailand
Tokyo _ The competition in the digital still camera market is expected to intensify as Panasonic seeks to increase the market share of its Lumix line to 15% of the 850,000 units expected to be sold in Thailand in the financial year ending next March. Daizo Ito, chief executive of the Panasonic Group in Thailand, said the company expected a sharp rise in sales in the second half of its fiscal year following the introduction of two models with competitive prices and features next month.
Panasonic has set aside an advertising budget of 80 million baht for the Lumix FX33 and FX55 models, which are priced between 13,000 and 14,000 baht. The promotions will focus on ”intelligent auto” (IA) technology, a first in Thailand, which enables users to automatically select the optimal shooting mode for high-quality pictures.
”The new campaign could be something that will surprise even Sony and Canon,” Mr Ito said, referring to the top two players in the market.
Panasonic’s Lumix line is tied for fourth place in the market with Fuji so far, with a market share 7-8%. Sony has more than 20% of the market in terms of units sold, Canon has slightly less than 20% and Samsung 13%.
Mr Ito said the Lumix campaign could include a high-profile presenter, but he declined to identify the person, saying that would be the job of the company’s marketers.
Recently Sony Thai Co Ltd announced plans to spend 220 million baht to promote its Cyber-shot cameras in its biggest brand communications campaign to date, aiming to maintain its leadership in Thailand’s five-billion baht digital camera market.
Sony is using 10 local celebrities to endorse its brand after 10 years in Thailand. Canon uses the famous model and actress Paula Taylor as its main presenter.
According to Mr Ito, the Lumix brand is perceived as being for older customers and Panasonic wanted to give it a more youthful image.
Pinyo Chansirivorakul, product manager for Lumix, said Panasonic’s total advertising and promotional budget for digital still cameras would be around 300 million baht this fiscal year.
Mr Pinyo said the goal was to transform Panasonic’s image and brand to tap young adults with high purchasing power.
He said the features of Panasonic cameras were more advanced than those of rival models, including 28-millimetre lenses. However, the price was still competitive thanks to lower production costs from the plant in Japan.
”Our target is 100,000 units by the end of this fiscal year, or 10% growth year-on-year, against 5-8% previously,” said Mr Pinyo, noting that sales grew by 10% in the first six months.
However, he said Panasonic would not engage in a price war just to build sales. In Japan, its production plant in Fukushima, northeast of Tokyo, is focusing on lowing production costs and increasing production efficiency.
Nakagaki Motoki, overseas marketing head for Panasonic AVC Network, said that in an attempt to reduce costs, the plant had reduced raw material inventory to 2.6 days from five days in 2004.
Add comment September 11th, 2007