PETALING JAYA: Panasonic Malaysia Sdn Bhd has stayed ahead of the competition for 40 years by improving its operations and focusing on key consumer markets.
Managing director Cheng Chee Chung said while the group’s consumer electronics (CE) business grew in tandem with Malaysia’s strong economy, this growth has also attracted more players and competition.
“For example, 20 years ago, a one horse-power air-conditioner cost RM2,000. Today it cost RM800. So where does the margin go? How to survive in this business? Therefore, things also change in that manner because of competition,” he said in an exclusive interview recently.
Cheng said there are more than 30 brands in the CE market, and third party data has recorded Panasonic’s market share at about 15 per cent share.
“We are stronger in home appliances category such as microwave, rice cooker, air-conditioners and ovens,” he added.
Cheng said Panasonic’s advantage over competitors that rely on imports was that the company’s products were locally produced. While some have closed their plants and relocated to other countries, Panasonic is here to stay.
“We have no plan to leave Malaysia despite a lot of challenges. Some of our factories are expanding their capacity. Malaysia is going to be an important base for Panasonic,” he stressed.
Since taking over at the helm of Panasonic in April 1 last year, Cheng has undertaken some changes to strengthen the group’s performance in terms of growing market share.
This included a review of total operations, streamlining the sales and marketing departments to improve forecast accuracy, and being more focused on targeted consumers.
“One is the Malay marketing group, for obvious reasons. They are the biggest population, their income is growing and the highest in urbanisation.
“We need to study their behaviour, what kind of media they look at, etc. So after some study, we decided to go for money marketing activity,” he added.
Another focus group is targeted at female consumers.
“To differentiate ourselves with competitors, we are strong in cooking and beauty products, which our competitors do not have. These products appeal to the female gender. Based on statistics, females today are getting more intelligent than males. They are more influential today and involved in the corporate world. Their earning power is also increasing,” he said.
Cheng said these measures had paid off, and Panasonic had seen steady revenue growth of about five per cent for the past five months. The biggest growth was from the air-conditioners segment.
“Things are getting more challenging. Gross domestic product growth dropped during the second quarter to 4.0 per cent from 4.5 per cent. So we are a bit concerned about the coming months. Up to September we will still be okay. We are surpassing the target as we speak,” he said.