Ready for a larger share

Toshiba Corporation, the Japanese electronics and consumer products company, has big plans for India. To this end, Toshiba India, the Indian subsidiary of Toshiba Corporation, has unveiled a slew of new products, a new business strategy and a new ad campaign to capture a larger share of the lucrative Indian market.

Masayuki Ito, vice-president, Toshiba Corporation, digital products & services division, says, “India is an important market for us and we want to offer our customers leading-edge products. Having established Toshiba as a reliable brand, we are focused on extending our reach with products specially designed for India.”

The pivot of its India strategy is the introduction of products designed for the country. Take Power TV, a light and compact range of LCD TVs that profess lower power consumption. Starting at Rs 10,000 for a 19-inch screen, it goes on to a little over Rs 20,000 for the 32-inch variant. The prices have been kept significantly low to achieve the ambitious target of capturing 10 per cent market share by 2012 and 15 per cent by 2015. “We want to get closer to consumers at the earliest as competition is getting intense,” Wu Tengguo, director, digital products, Toshiba India, says. In this market Toshiba will fight with the likes of Sony, LG and Samsung.

The second new product from the company’s stable is a first of its kind glasses-free 3D laptop, the Qosmio F750 3D, that is able to display 3D and 2D content on one screen at the same time. Priced at Rs 85,000, it is far from cheap but the company hopes its unique features will drive demand and help it reach its target of 10 per cent PC market share by 2013. Some other products that will be launched soon include a tablet PC and a range of 3D TVs. “We are determined to provide a broad array of high-value products that reflect the changing lifestyles in India and address market requirements,” adds Tengguo.

Toshiba is planning to establish an R&D centre in Gurgaon (near Delhi) to localise its new products for India. Some part of the manufacturing may also happen locally. The company will expand its network of exclusive stores to 6,000 from the current 3,500.

The company has planned an aggressive marketing and advertising strategy to support the new products. It will drive visibility with billboards and print ads; there will also be two new TV commercials featuring cricket icon and brand ambassador Sachin Tendulkar. Ito says, “Even at the peak of his career, Sachin strives for more. Likewise Toshiba also strives for innovation and better quality. So he was a natural choice.”

The tag line, “ready for more”, signifies the company is ready to take competition by the horns. Choosing not to disclose the advertising budget, Tengguo says, “You will be able to guess (the spends) when you see our scale. By August this year, you will see us practically everywhere.”