When Toshimitsu Tanaka, president and country manager of Epson Philippines Corp. (Epson), arrived in the country to lead the firm in 2012, his main challenge was to increase the brand’s market share for its flagship products.
Three years later, Epson achieved its goal and reported market share increase in inkjet printers, projectors, and dot matrix printers and POS (point of sale) systems.
Epson shared the news during its annual media event, Epson Fusion (Six), held recently at Huma Island Resort in Palawan.
Tanaka attributes the developments to the continued innovation of the Japanese electronics firm and its ability to anticipate market trends.
Quoting data from industry research firm International Data Corp. (IDC), product manager for inkjet printer Russer Cabrera said: “Epson garnered 35.9 percent market share and 48.1 percent value share” in 2014.
Toshimitsu Tanaka, president and country manager of Epson Philippines, announces the increase in market share of the brand’s flagship products during an event at Huma Island Resort in Palawan.
Tanaka said the firm needed to create new business models and products to achieve market leadership. Producing the L-Series, an ink tank system printer, is one of the strategies that the firm thought would help increase sales receipts.
Tanaka said 60 percent of inkjet printer sales came from corporate clients while the remaining 40 percent were individual customers.
According to Lyn Lizarondo, product manager for projectors, Epson reported a 6 percent increase totaling to 31 percent in market share in this category.
She shared the findings of another industry research firm FutureSource where Epson was recognized as the global leader in projectors for 14 straight years.
The bulk of clients in this category come from, again, large enterprises as well as schools.
Dot matrix not going anywhere
Dot matrix printers are not going anywhere yet. Quoting the firm’s internal data, Epson dot matrix printers hold 96 percent of market share in the Philippines with banks and other enterprises as the main drivers in this product category.
POS, on the other hand, is said to be performing well although data are not available. POS has the potential to grow further now that everything seems to be going on mobile.
In its release, Epson stated: “POS printers are the thermal modules (TM) typically used by retail and service-oriented industries for printing receipts. They are specifically designed for speed, accuracy and cost efficiency with the aim of reducing capital investment and facilitating faster customer turnaround time.”
Tanaka also shared the Philippines contributed around 20 percent of sales in Southeast Asia. Tanaka said Indonesia is still Epson’s biggest market in the region.
He announced the P4.7 billion expansion of Epson’s Lipa, Batangas plant. At present, the plant employs 12,000 and is expected to increase to 20,000 in 2017, the target date of completion. The firm also has a plant in Cabuyao, Laguna.
The Lipa plant will boost production of inkjet printers and projectors.
Labor cost and the ability to speak English are just few of the reasons Tanaka said the firm chose to expand in the Philippines instead of in China or Indonesia.
Once completed, Tanaka said, the Lipa plant would be Epson’s biggest factory. The new plant measures 10,000 square meters.
Tanaka is set to be involved in regional operations of Epson in Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, and the Philippines.
Still, he is optimistic that Epson will post a double-digit growth, without giving figures, this year. RC