Sansui banks on the power of sound

Japanese mid-market consumer electronics major Sansui is a late comer in the high-growth LCD market, dominated by Samsung, LG and Sony. The reason is simple: Sansui so far sold its TV sets on the USP of high-tech sound technology with super woofers that gave 3,000 watts of sound power.

But replicating the same model in LCDs was not easy. It meant Sansui had to create smaller speakers, as apart from better picture quality, LCDs occupy less space and can even be hung on the wall.

The Japanese giant has finally found an answer: it has just launched an LCD with in-built hidden speakers. The new products — Hard Rock LCDs — come with a 1,200 watt Woofer Sound System, a touch control sensor, USB storage and access to Tweeter networking websites. And company executives say these features should be enough to grab at least 5 per cent market share in the LCD market. If that happens, Sansui will be able to increase its share in the colour TV market from the current 8 per cent to 12 per cent.

 

Sansui knows that it has to play a pricing game too to seize the initiative from premium brands like Samsung or LG which dominate the LCD space. So, the Sansui TVs are 20 per cent cheaper than competition.

Jaidip Rathore, chief marketing officer of Sansui, says “Our differentiation element would be sound. None in the market has LCDs with 1,200 watts capacity. Competition like LG, Panasonic, Samsung and Sony have just 400-800 watt speaker LCDs.”

Sansui says that sound is what will attract the younger consumers who comprise around 30 per cent of consumer durables buyers.

But not everyone is convinced that the strategy will work. A competing brand owner says the youth are brand conscious. Competitors also say that LCD buyers are more bothered about picture quality than the sound pitch.

But that is not deterring Sansui from going in for an aggressive distribution push. It is planning to increase its dealer network to 7000 in a year’s time. Rathore says the market is changing a lot and there are many small areas, even talukas, where there are enough buyers. “The strategy is to have direct billing points (dealers) in districts and talukas,” he says.

Sansui of course can leverage the tie up with Videocon in India to manufacture and distribute its products. And it is backing up the effort with a Rs 40 crore advertising blitz in the next six months.