Consumer durables player Panasonic India is entering the light emitting diode (LED) TV segment this year. The company plans to start manufacturing and marketing the product next month.
Panasonic has completed its field testing in 22 locations across the country including Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. The manufacturing facility for the LED TVs will be in Noida initially. The new LED TVs will come in the 32-42 inch range and the plan by next year is to release 50-inch monitors in the LED range.
Panasonic will, however, face stiff competition from well-entrenched players like LG and Samsung. But with the entry of Panasonic into this range, the $2 million market will now see a significant expansion.
“Though we are looking into the LED range, plasma screens are what we are trying to educate our consumer for. LED has a greater response time because of the larger screen,” Manish Sharma, head marketing, CE and HA products, Panasonic India, told Business Standard.
The company is also focusing on its brand building exercise. It has roped-in Ranbir Kapoor, the Delhi Daredevils and the All India Football Federation (AIFF) to promote the brand. The company, whose advertising spends go up to 15-16 per cent of its topline, plans to launch new campaigns this year to promote its flat screen television range.
Meanwhile, the company’s liquid crystal display (LCD) and plasma range, under the brand name Vierra, will be out with a commercial in April this year, which would star Ranbir Kapoor, Virendra Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Baichung Bhutia. Panasonic, which has around 2,500 exclusive dealers across the country has also made up with Tata Enterprises’ department store, Croma, with the company had a fall out last year on certain issues on margins, where Croma allegedly dropped prices of Panasonic products in order to push volumes, is now all set to promote its LED range in Croma in another 1-2 months.
Rural sales, or ‘Volume Zone’ as Panasonic puts it, is also going to be a focus area this year. “Despite being a premium range company, we did come out with an LCD in July last year costing Rs 27,900 with the bare minimum features so as to be able to reach Tier 3 markets”, Sharma says. The company is targeting volume sales of 60- 70,000 units by the end of this year and is going to look at a similar proposition for the air conditioner (AC) segment as well.