Toshiba India Pvt. Ltd. (TIPL), a 100% subsidiary of Toshiba Corporation Japan, is a world-class innovator and industry leader in three key domains: Digital Products, Electronics Devices and Social Infrastructure. Though TIPL was set up in 2002, Toshiba started shipping its first laptops to India much earlier than that, in the year 1994. Up till now, the company had its presence in the country with a very few product line but post recession, having understood the potential that this market holds, it is going on a product expansion spree and striving for a larger presence in the Indian Notebook space. To further work on its rebranding strategy in the country, Toshiba India has recently appointed a new Director for the PC Division, Wu Tengguo.
Headquartered in Gurgaon, the Company has its branch offices in Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai, besides having its representatives in Ahmedabad, Pune, Bhopal, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Chandigarh.
The Company is also celebrating its 25th anniversary of having launched the world's first commercialized laptops in the year 1985 this year. To mark the company's silver jubilee celebrations for Toshiba Laptop business, the PC Division of Toshiba India has announced the world's first dual-touch-screen Windows mini-notebook PC "Libretto W100" and its thinnest and lightest full-function 33.8cm (13.3-inch) laptop "Portege R700".
Toshiba India consolidating its presence
Toshiba, so far, has concentrated more on the B2B vertical for conducting its business. But over the years, with significant changes taking place in the IT and business space, Toshiba has been constantly exploring the idea of entering into the retail area. In the last quarter of CY 2009, it saw a slump in the B2B business, with the number coming down to below 50%. While Toshiba's B2B segment accounted for 30%, the retail business moved up by 70%.
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Excerpts of Mr. Wu Tengguo's exclusive interaction with Ms. Syeda Beenish, Associate Editor - VARIndia during her Toshiba factory visit in Hangzhou (China)
Please share the early days of Toshiba in India. With which product category did you enter the Indian market?
Toshiba recognized the market potential in India in the early 1990s and introduced the full range of laptops focussing on the mobile business users.
Toshiba laptops were first available via a network of distributors, master dealers and corporate resellers, including VARs and SIs. Back then, Toshiba was - and even to date is - known as the King of Laptops in the corporate market. As the potential has grown, we have strengthened our presence in India and established our direct presence about three years ago. It has been a growing period and we continue to aggressively strengthen our footprint. 2010 is a big year for us and you have and will continue to see an upswing in our presence here.
How have you evolved with time?
As an organization, Toshiba believes in leading with innovation. We launched the world's first commercial laptop (clamp-shell) in 1985 and since then we have been continuously innovating, to the delight of our customers. The technologies we have shared have been adopted as part of the industry's best practices. In India, we have grown tremendously.
Our growth has also been in our product portfolio. We now offer a range of products for both the corporate and home users. In all, we have about 30 different models to meet all the requirements of our customers in India. Our investments have also substantially increased in 2010.
You celebrated successful 25 years of innovation at a grand level. How do you plan to celebrate it in India?
We will celebrate 25 years with the introduction of the world's first 7" dual screen ultra-small laptop, the Libretto W100 and the world's lightest full performance 13.3" laptop, the Portege R700. Both these innovative technology-leading products are designed and manufactured by Toshiba. Toshiba is probably the only laptop brand that still designs and builds its own products, assuring customers of the company's continuous innovation leadership in Quality, Technology, and Design. We will soon be announcing other anniversary technology products in the next few weeks.
Why have you announced Sachin as the brand ambassador?
A Brand Ambassador represents what the organization stands for and believes in. Sachin Tendulkar is a global icon for excellence and one who has always set and surpassed global standards. At Toshiba, we, too, have always believed in excellence and leading with innovation. Toshiba's products are based on the highest quality standards, leading-edge technology and stylish design and are innovated towards better product performance, resulting in an exceptional customer experience. As a marketing tool, celebrity endorsements help in delivering a strong message to one's target audience and we believe that Sachin Tendulkar demonstrates and resonates the brand attributes of Toshiba. Hence, the choice.
What kind of plans you have for the ongoing financial year?
Toshiba India PC Division has aggressive plans this year. We are aiming for 3X growth together with our channel partners.
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The Company has come up with a two-tier channel network - working with retailers and national distributors like Ingram Micro, Compuage Infocom Ltd. and Redington. Toshiba has also announced its tie-up with the leading IT hardware distributor Rashi Peripherals for its entire range of External Hard Drives throughout India. Besides the traditional channel network, Toshiba has also made a larger presence in the LFRs, multi-brand and franchisee-owned Brand shops, to cater to its consumer segment. In terms of LFRs, they are already available through Reliance Digital stores, followed by 50+ exclusive franchisee-owned outlets and close-to 550 multi-brand stores all across the country. It has plans up its sleeves to raise the number to 81 and 550, respectively by the end of the year 2010. Besides growing the number, the company is also investing heavily in terms of quality, which would enable it to deliver the right kind of consumer experience and technology strengths.
From the market prospective, though Toshiba is not addressing the government vertical, it is looking at the consumer and the education segment as its focussed verticals in the country. On the education front, the Company is approaching the student fraternity from two perspectives: one is purchases happening through institutions and the second one is students themselves buying their laptops and PCs. For the institutions, they have already made available different sales programmes wherein the company is working closely with their channel partners in order to get the right kind of product delivered at the right time at the right place.
Toshiba has its in-house experienced technology engineers to produce end-to-end products. Today, Toshiba claims to be in a position of having 100% experience in delivering quality products, with functionality being the foremost feature of almost all of its products. The Company has opted to go by functionality when it comes to making available products for the price-sensitive domestic market.
Expansions and Strategies
Tengguo Wu is the newly-appointed Director and Sivakumar N is the General Manager of Toshiba PC Division in India. Going by its growth strategies, the thrust initially is been given to the top 15 cities, as this is believed to help Toshiba bolster its market share and build on the brand image. However, from its future growth prospective, the Company will steadily align its focus on other cities as well and start expanding it to more and more cities. Toshiba has also set up its service centres in the 15 cities, thus giving shape to its idea of creating its presence both in terms of sales as well as service support.
"In terms of our product offerings, we had earlier launched 10 models and had come up with 11 products in the current year, bringing the total to 21," informed Sivakumar N, GM - PC Division, Toshiba India. By the end of this year, the Company is expecting to have a total of 30 products in the market, with 9 new models coming out by the end of October.
Toshiba has earmarked an investment of around US$10 million for the current fiscal year, which will include the company's sales promotion activities, retail expansion plans complemented by various other activities. When it comes to the market share, Sivakumar shared that the company is aiming to increase it three times than what it is now.
India being a strategically important market for Toshiba, the Company is reworking on the visibility factor and revamping its strategies, keeping in mind the current market conditions and consumer wants. The Company was also engaged in conducting some major road shows in the month of June in the cities of Bangalore and Chennai and had concluded a similar kind of a show in Mumbai. Post July, it has announced a 25-city road show as well. In line with these developments, the Company has, of late, roped in Sachin Tendulkar as its Brand Ambassador and will soon launch a print campaign featuring the ace cricketer in its corporate advertisements for Laptops, LCD TVs and Home Appliances. “With Sachin as the new Brand Ambassador, Toshiba will be launching an extensive cross-product media campaign with the key message of “Quality -Technology-Design,” added Sivakumar.
Motivating Partners
“Our Channel is one of our strongest focus areas. We currently sell through our network of national distributors, “ShopToshiba”s (channel partners focussing only Toshiba laptop products), “ToshibaZone”s, (multi-brand partners), and Large Format Retail partners,” informs Sivakumar. Not only this, they are also expanding their network of enterprise partners for the corporate market. Toshiba is constantly expanding their partner network and welcomes new partners who wish to participate in their 3x growth this year.
Toshiba believes in both enabling as well as motivating their feet on streets. They share their business approach strategy with them through strategy sharing sessions as well as give them technical know-how through product trainings sessions. “In addition, we run through many sell-through and sell-out programmes as well as incentive schemes. We also support them through multiple other marketing activities which include Print advertising as well as local market and consumer activation activities,” he added. As a result, they get to showcase their inventory range as well as get an opportunity to engage with customers in high footfall areas.
Going forward ...
Right since the inception of its operations in the Indian subcontinent, Toshiba knew what its priorities were and chose to keep them right till the very end. Going by the indications of the global market trends, the PC market of India has not gained much momentum. PC penetration in the country is still at an all-time low when compared to markets like that of China; which is why Toshiba has touted India to be a completely new evolving market. The Company might have made a late entry into the country's IT scene according to many, but it is not left behind in the race either. The Company is relentlessly banking on the untapped potential that this nascent market is throwing up, which is believed to further strengthen Toshiba's brand and build on its market share. And as pointed out by many of the company folks, the time is perfectly right for Toshiba to aggressively venture into the Indian market.
For more contact:
beenish@varindia.com
