HAIER Group relaunched on Thursday its very own brand in the Philippines and, at the same time, kicked off a new one, called “Aqua,” to help realize its “triple-growth” target by 2018.
Haier Asia Co. Ltd. President and CEO Yoshiaki Ito told the BusinessMirror that such initiative is in line with their bullishness on the country’s continuous progress that could help buttress the group’s global and regional business growth.
“I see the Philippines as the growth potential market [for us]. This is why I came here for the first Asean tour,” he said of the brand’s reintroduction and Aqua’s debut since their acquisition of Sanyo in 2012.
Sales- and revenue-wise, this country is the fourth-biggest market of Haier in Southeast Asia, which includes Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, as well as newer markets Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar, he said.
“The biggest [growth-driving] factor I see in the Philippines is its young population,” Ito said.
He also considered the flourishing economy, political stability and flexible language capability to their “exponential growth.”
“Now that the second half of the business year has already begun, we are striving to drive our business with these two brands and, again, making our business [grow] triple in three years,” Haier Electrical Appliances Philippines Inc. (HPI) President and CEI Nobuhito Hayashi said.
While Haier remains a minor player in the local appliance industry from being a new entrant three years ago, the company has already achieved robust business here, he said.
“We are not at liberty of divulging the exact figures, but we are in the ‘positive’ growth,” said Theresa B. Dublin, HPI executive director for marketing.
Currently, the firm’s main core lineup of products includes washing machine, refrigerator, television (TV) and air-conditioning.
Compared to Haier, Sanyo still accounts for a bigger percentage of its total business, except for TV, which is the domain of the former.
“For the other three categories like aircon, washing machine and refrigerator, the majority of the models that were introduced in 2013 and 2014 were Sanyo. But actually this year, we’re trying to make a bold step to really introduce a wide line for Haier so that we can gauge how we could be able to transition at a faster pace,” she said.
Apart from strengthening their existing product lines, the executive said they are expanding also to other segments, such as small and domestic appliances, kitchen and cooking wares, and even information technology items, like Chrome book and laptop. She said they are exploring new business models catered to business clients.
“The earliest that we can introduce them will be on the fourth quarter of this year. But the majority of them will be introduced next year, and then the rest is for us to wait for their introduction in the bigger markets, such as China and Japan,” Dublin said.
The introduction of Aqua is aimed at taking over Sanyo’s market, especially in the countryside.
HPI will position it in the entry level, especially for unique concept products, so as to create a “different appeal to the consumers that it is actually a different product,” Dublin said.
“Sanyo will be only until 2017. Actually, we’re advancing to the introduction of Aqua so that we could make a final transition [into it from Sanyo],” she said. “As for Haier, it will be full line. We can probably have a parallel lineup for both Haier and Aqua. But still our banner brand is Haier.” Paulene San Miguel