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Electronics Giant Expects Sales Rise in China
(Comtex Business Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) BEIJING, Jun 15, 2006 (SinoCast China IT Watch via COMTEX) --Canon Inc, the world's largest maker of consumer electornics and imaging products, expects its sales in China will grow more than 30 percent year on year in 2006 after a 30 percent increase in the first five month of this year, led by increasing demand for digital cameras in the country.
The Japan-based company said its China sales of all products including cameras, copiers, fax machines and printers jumped 30 percent in 2005 from a year ealier, making China its fastest-growing market in Asia.
Officials at Canon, however, declined to disclose sales revenue from China. "Unlike Japan whose (digital camera) market is saturated, China has plenty of room for demand to fill up," said Yasuhide Tamegai, senior vice president at Canon (China) Co Ltd.
"Cameras, with digital ones as a major part, now make up over half of Canon's business in China." With sales soaring, the company plans to enhance its aftersales service to win more consumers from its rivals.
The company lately opened Asia's third quickly repair center in Shanghai, joining similar outlets in Tokyo and Beijing. The company hopes the center, which will mainly fix cameras, will woo consumers by offering repairs in less than an hour for some products.
The Shanghai repair center is accompanied by four lisenced camera maintenance outlets in the city.
"We foresees that the QRC will attract more customers as it is directly operated by Canon, so we will send some of the orders to our lisencees if the QRC can't manage in the future," said Tamegai.
The company has 42 licensed camera maintenance outlets across China. It plans to open another quick repair center this year in Guangzhou, southern China's Guangdong Province. Canon's digital camera products accounted for 26 percent of China's market share in April.
Canon has developed strong brand awareness among Chinese consumers, especially professionals, but Ozawa said the company needs to further improve customer satisfaction by turning all products into "delightful tools.
Compared to its major rivals, Canon boasts a complete portfolio of digital-imaging products ranging from cameras, printers and copiers to scanners.
Canon last year secured government approval to sell its products directly in China, which has given a big boost to its sales growth. Previously, all Canon products were imported while its manufacturing facilities in China targeted only exports.
Establishing shops in downtown or busy shopping malls to display glitzy digital products and woo customers has become a common tactic for digital-product makers.
The Canon brand is a registered trademark in more than 200 countries and regions worldwide. Regional marketing headquarters oversee operations across Canon's global sales network: Canon U.S.A. in North and South America; Canon Europe in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East; Canon China in Asia outside Japan; and Canon Australia in Oceania.
Canon Marketing Japan is responsible for marketing in Japan. Canon pays close attention to customer needs and proposes solutions that enable customers to use increasingly sophisticated and complex information networks with greater ease, convenience, and efficiency, and remain in step with the global advance of IT.
From Nanfang Daily, Page 1, Wednesday, June 14, 2006
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