Date:15/03/2008 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2008/03/15/stories/2008031551130200.htm

Back Sanyo-BPL fine-tuning marketing strategy

To build awareness, strengthen loyalty among customers

Come-back trail
The company will start manufacturing LCD TVs at its plant near Bangalore from May this year and stop importing them.
It is likely to break-even by 2009-10 and post revenues of around Rs 2,000 crore by 2011.

K. Giriprakash

Bangalore, March 14 Sanyo-BPL, which is on a comeback trail, is slowly making inroads into the white goods as well as colour television markets even as it fights hard to achieve its sales and revenue targets.

Sanyo-BPL Vice-President for Sales, Mr Alok Arora, told Business Line that the company is fine-tuning its marketing strategy which will allow it to build awareness as well as strengthen the loyalty among its customers. The joint venture has also decided to stop importing LCD television sets from Sanyo’s plants abroad and start manufacturing them at its plant near Bangalore from May this year.

This plant produces slim TVs as well. White goods such as refrigerators and washing machines will however continue to be imported from Sanyo’s plants in other countries. The plant near Bangalore, which is considered to be among the best in Asia, has a capacity to produce 1 million television sets annually on a single shift and it currently employs about 400 people and 75 per cent of the workforce consists of operators.

Sanyo-BPL, which commenced its operations in 2006, has so far sold about 5 lakh units of CTVs which is expected to increase to about 6.5 lakh units by 2008-09 and the joint venture has a share of around 4.5 per cent in the market.

On the back of these numbers, the joint venture should now break-even by 2009-10 and should be able to post revenues of around Rs 2,000 crore by 2011, though as per earlier projections the joint venture was expected to achieve the revenue target by 2009 itself. One of the major reasons for pushing back the targets is also because of the fact that the market has slowed down considerably.

“We are picking up gaps in the market and trying to address them instead of taking competition head on,” Mr Arora said. He said the joint venture has picked up markets where it can create as well as retain brand loyalty.

“We have gone back to our customers and encouraged them to upgrade their products. We have found a good response to our efforts,” he said.

He pointed out that though Sanyo-BPL’s ad budget may not be as large as compared with the leaders in the industry, it was being prudent with its limited budget. “We will not be a newspaper brand. We will advertise our brands on suitable occasions,” he said.