BenQ comes to SA for Christmas

By Rodney Weidemann for BenQ

Johannesburg, 23 Sep 2004

One of Taiwan`s largest manufacturers of computer peripherals, BenQ, aims to open an office in SA by Christmas 2004.

Country sales manager for SA, Peter Lin, says BenQ believes SA is an attractive focal point for its business, despite being a relatively small market.

"It is still a fantastic market because of its maturity in buying behaviour and buying power, as well as being a strong base for an organisation to grow further into the African market," says Lin.

The company has already brought an array of products to the South African market, including CDs, cellphones, digital cameras and audio players, and its DVD and LCD monitor ranges.

"Our priorities in SA at present are to keep growing our revenue, tap the best industry talent, develop our channel structure, improve our service levels and boost our branding," he says.

"BenQ aims to achieve this by using our flagship brands to build a following for our other products, by maintaining balance in the channel, and by using affordable and flexible pricing."

He says BenQ will arrange a roadshow across the country that will visit shopping malls and universities, in order to create a greater awareness of the company in the eyes of the general public.

"We plan on launching our LCD screens in quarter one of 2005, with our cellular phones set to hit the market by the second quarter.

"While our primary focus will be on our IT products initially, we hope to gain around a 5% share of the cellular product market by the end of next year."