TCL aims for Rs 450 crore sales, eyes East

TCL India, the Rs 375 crore consumer electronics company, is targeting sales of close to Rs 450 crore this financial year, on the back of more product innovation as well as introduction of product categories in India from its global portfolio.

The company’s current product range includes colour televisions, air-conditioners, washing machines, and DVD players, with sales of colour televisions making up almost 70 per cent of the company’s obverall revenues in India.

At a press conference in Kolkata, Warren Wang, managing director of TCL India, said, “We are looking at introducing small home appliances in India. We are also strengthening our distribution reach in India so that we can build our base here with more products and categories. We are looking at five big distributors only for our small appliances business.”

Currently, the company has 300 distributors and is present through 5,000 multi-brand-outlets (MBOs) in India.

In small appliances, the company will introduce induction cookers priced at Rs 4,000 onwards, rice cookers priced between Rs 2,000 and Rs 3,000, and water dispensers priced between Rs 4,000 and Rs 6,000.

The company is also strengthening its distributor network in India to further introduce IT products like digital camera, MP3 players, laptops and desktops in India. Globally it also sells mobile handsets which the company plans to introduce in India once it establishes a deal with the telecom service providers here.

“Currently we are looking at only importing goods to India. Once we reach a market share of around 10 per cent in India over the next three years from 5 per cent right now, we could look at setting up a manufacturing base in India for ease in logistics. It does not make sense for us to have a plant here unless we reach a threshold volume here,” said Wang.

Currently the consumer electronics market is estimated at Rs 32,000 crore.

The company is also hoping to rake in sales of close to Rs 8 crore from West Bengal during the festive season over the next two months.

The company is also planning to introduce vernacular advertising campaign in the state to connect with the consumers.

According to Rajesh Rathi, vice-president - sales of TCL, “We will spend almost 10 per cent of our turnover in marketing, especially during the festive season. This includes assured gifts like coffee mugs and glass sets on purchases during this time. We are also looking at vernacular advertising during this period in order to ensure we connect with the consumers.”

"East is the second largest market for us, making up as much as 20 per cent of our overall turnover, next only to South India which contributes 40 per cent of the overall revenues. In East, sales go up during the September-October months and like last like, we are targeting sales of Rs 8 crore in West Bengal during this time,” Rathi added.

TCL launched its two new models of LCDs in Kolkata, the premium models priced at Rs 84,900 and three Slim TVs priced at Rs 9490 and Rs 9290, followed by the third mid segment model priced at Rs 7990.