Sharp sees electronics sales growth in RP

By Alexander Villafania INQUIRER.net MANDALUYONG City, Philippines â Anticipating a return of healthy buying power o f Filipinos in 2009, Japanese electronics firm Sharp is setting out to strength en their appliance sales in the country. Sharp Philippines President and General Manager Kenjo Okunaka said in a press c onference that they will be more aggressive in the coming months to offset much of the decline in consumer electronics purchases in the Philippines. Okunaka will expand their sales and marketing to all economic segments though i t aims to retain a strong market in the âAâ to âupper-Câ levels. "We will be introducing different products to satisfy every type of household. We are expecting to remain strong in the coming year as Filipinos regain purcha sing power," Okunaka said. So far, the company is already enjoying strong sales this year, with expected domestic sales of 1.68 billion pesos, over double of what they earned in 2007. Okunaka also claimed Sharp is still among the top ranking brands the appliance business. He added that they are expecting to earn P4 billion by 2012. Nearly all of the company's product lines showed triple digit growth since 2007 , owing to relatively better buying power among Filipinos, as well as availabil ity of better appliances at nearly the same cost. Among its most popular appliances are standard TV sets, which generates one-thi rd of its revenues at P588 million. It is followed by washing machines with P40 4 million, then refrigerators and freezers with P308 million. However, the company's fastest growing product line are its LCD TVs, which cont ributed P246 million in sales revenues so far and has the fastest growth rate a t 446 percent. In an interview, Okunaka said the company is betting on its Aquos LCD TV busine ss as it is the hottest product line in the Philippines so far. But he forecast that it will take another five to seven years before LCD TVs will totally repl ace cathode ray tube (CRT) or standard TVs, primarily because these cost lower to own. Okunaka noted that just for the first half of year, worldwide demand for LCD TV s has grown to 100 million units, taking 45 percent of the demand for TVs, whic h is 220 million units. Okunaka also stressed on the lower cost of manufacturing of LCD TVs, as well as their lower power consumption, which he hopes would be appealing to homeowners . "If we replace even half of all CRTs with LCDs worldwide, we will save 100 bill ion kilowatt hours of electricity per year," Okunaka said.