Samsung Focuses on Leading Digital Camera Market
Samsung Focuses on Leading Digital Camera Market
Chosun Ilbo, South Korea
Samsung Electronics is ready to take over the global digital camera market. Korea’s largest electronics maker recently integrated the sales and marketing network of its digital camera affiliate, Samsung Techwin, into its own to increase its presence in the market.
A Samsung Techwin source said the two companies formed a task force of four or five staff from each firm to plan strategies that would utilize the group’s global sales and marketing network for the digital camera business. “The strategies will be implemented from next year and they aim to be the leader of the market by 2010,” he added.
The new plan is based on the company’s success in growing its sales of TVs and printers by cranking up supply. It plans to turn out 12 million digital cameras this year alone from its camera plants including Samsung Techwin’s factory in Tianjin, China, which was completed in March. This will make it the world’s number three digital camera maker, following Canon (20 million) and Sony (16 million).
Digital camera makers have been enjoying growing profits recently. Canon saw its operating margin for its digital camera business rise 18.5 percent. Sony posted a 16.9 percent jump in sales of electronics in the third quarter thanks mainly to rising sales of its Cyber-shot digital cameras. Contrary to forecasts that the market would be saturated by now, sales are still expanding. That’s why Samsung plans to grab a larger share by increasing production.
There are some concerns about Samsung’s plan. The digital camera market has two sectors — premium products such as DSLRs and mass products. Samsung is competitive only in the mass sector. Also, the market has not responded well to the plan. Samsung Techwin’s stock price rose to around W70,000 (US$1=W907) due to market expectations, but has fallen to its usual value of around W50,000.
An industry source said that Samsung Electronics’ sales network would be very helpful, but what is essential for increasing sales is optics technology. “The key to the success of the plan is whether Samsung can catch up with other marker leaders’ technological power within two to three years. In the case of Canon, it’s the third largest patent holder in the world,” he said.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
Add comment October 30th, 2007