Channel Chief
“To curb parallel imports, we have started local manufacturing”
 R Manikandan, Business Group Head, Digital Display and Storage, LG India, shares his company’s plans for 2009
What’s LG’s outlook for the IT industry?
We have witnessed a slowdown in corporate buying, but the consumer segment has been a big savior. We are optimistic about commercial demand picking up by the JAS quarter. At LG, we continue to grow faster than our competition, and this is reflected in the marketshare gains we have made over the last 12 months. For 2009, we have set a target of 100 percent growth for LCD monitors and 30 percent for ODDs.
The market is skeptical about the market leadership claims in the LCD category. Everyone seems to be claiming leadership, including LG, Samsung and Acer.
LG’s marketshare rose from 16.8 percent in 2007 to 22.1 percent in 2008. As per IDC’s latest findings, we are number one in terms of marketshare in LCD monitors both in the total as well as non-bundled market. We have registered market gains every quarter, which means we have grown faster than our competitors. According to IDC’s Q42008 report, LG witnessed 56 percent quantity growth and 44 percent value growth.
In ODDs, LG enjoys clear market leadership. While there is no independent data available for this category, we estimate our marketshare at over 50 percent in 2008.
What is LG doing to curb the influx of parallel imports of LCD monitors?
We are aware of this problem, and to tackle it we started local manufacturing of LCD monitors from August 2008. This, we believe, helps in creating product differentiation and makes the time-to-market faster.
The import portion is limited to high-end models where the scale of parallel imports is minimal.
Our monitors are manufactured at Noida and Pune. Presently, Pune caters only to Maharashtra. However, the roadmap is to have the Pune factory cater to the south and west, while Noida will cater to the north and east.
You recently won the CRN Channel Champions 2008 award in the LCD category. The victory must have been sweet considering you beat your arch-rival after coming second to them in 2007.
We achieved it on the back of innovative marketing and channel engagement programs. For instance, last year we ran several innovative schemes such as Powerplay, Overdrive and Advantage LG. We are now running LG Chak De.
Beginning January 2009, LG has launched another exclusive scheme called Dil Se for system builders. Because they generally buy from resellers and not from large regional distributors; we have made the invoice of resellers valid for system builders to qualify for the scheme.
We also ensured that we were the first-to-market with new technology and features. For instance, LG has been the first to bring the high-specs available on LCD TVs to the monitor segment, some of which include 30000:1 contrast ratio, Full HD, and f-engine picture correction technology. Significant credit for the recognition should go to our service centers which strived hard to improve the quality of our support.
The LCD monitor segment is getting crowded with several OEMs entering the fray. Many price players are also getting aggressive. How are you combating this onslaught?
The LCD monitor market is already quite cluttered with the entry of price players. However, we enjoy high equity in the market, leading the way with our innovative and quality products.
Besides price, there are other parameters such as market reach, customer support, marketing, channel relations and profitability, consumer pull and product reliability where we have a clear advantage over the new players.
LG has traditionally been weak in the commercial LCD segment. What’s your strategy to strengthen your presence there?
Since last May, we have set up a separate B2B sales team. Our aim in 2009 is to further strengthen our connect in the commercial segment, and for this we plan to enroll solutions providers and corporate resellers. In addition, we plan to add new products such as data projectors to create a larger portfolio for this segment. |