Japanese electronics giant Panasonic is looking to establish a stranglehold on the South African electronics market.
Yesterday, the company unveiled a range of electronic gadgets, vowing to take on established players like Samsung, LG and Apple, among others. The products include TVs, home theatre systems, home audio systems, portable audio systems, cameras and home appliances.
The expanded range of products will be introduced in phases during the year and beyond 2015, the company says.
Speaking during a media event at Emperors Palace in Kempton Park yesterday, Daizo Ito, regional head of Panasonic for India, South Asia, Middle East and Africa, said the company, which has kept a low profile in SA in recent years, will not only focus on the consumer market but will also offer solutions in the business-to-business space.
"South Africa is a strategic market for Panasonic and we would want to grow our market here," Ito declared. "Once we grow here, we will start entering other African countries."
To make an impact on the South African market, Hiroshi Maeda, ?MD of Panasonic SA, revealed the company has set aside a war chest of $5 million for marketing its products.
The company flew over 10 executives to SA to meet with key distributors and retailers, he said, adding Panasonic believes in cultivating long-term relationships and partnerships based on trust and respect.
Panasonic is buoyant about its re-investment in SA at this time, said Maeda. "This move is in line with a general increase in interest in the African continent. Manufacturers that previously concentrated on markets in India and the Far East are now turning their attention to Africa as the new frontier market."
He pointed out that while a sizeable proportion of technology-based goods have been imported from America and Europe, companies from China, South Korea and Japan are now making impressive inroads in the South African market.
Panasonic says much of the growth in the African technology market is being driven by the African customer's increasing appetite for technology-based consumer products. Spending on technology goods, like mobile handsets, is rocketing.
In SA, the consumer electronics market was gauged to be around $9.4 billion in 2012, and increasing to $13.6 billion by 2016, the company notes.
The burgeoning consumer technology market is also being driven by a number of powerful long-term trends, such as rapid population increase and urbanisation, says Panasonic.
Poverty levels have been declining since the 1980s and Africa is also becoming an easier place to do business as trade regulations have eased and business environments have improved, says Panasonic. It adds the costs of many technology products have been declining for some time, so products are more affordable and accessible.
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