Is Panasonic the new #1 TV company in Australia? The answer is most probably yes, if the total performance of Panasonic and Sanyo in February is anything to go by.
According to the latest GFK sales data, Sanyo, a 100 percent, Panasonic owned company grabbed 11 percent share in February and Panasonic 5 percent share, which when combined gives them 16 percent share, 2 percent ahead of Samsung.
According to Bill Crichton, the Vice President of Sanyo Asia Pacific, Panasonic should be credited with being the number one TV brand in Australia. “Just because two brands are being used to achieve the result is irrelevant as both brands are owned by Panasonic,” he said.
He said that the acquisition of the Sanyo brand by Panasonic was timely, as it allows Panasonic to compete up against house brand TVs and a “flood” of Chinese brands with a two brand strategy.
“We have an excellent TV business. We have a staff of three in this division and we are shipping by the container load direct to retailers. We are also in an excellent position, when it comes to pricing and model range especially when the consumer has to make a choice between a house brand TV and a well-known brand like Sanyo especially as we can compete on price,” said Crichton.
“We are now delivering a real strength for Panasonic, we have what they haven’t got and they have what we haven’t got when you look at the market from a good, better best perspective. They are in the good market and the top of the best ,and we are in the Best and the bottom half of the better which is an ideal situation to be in, in the current market”.
Lambro Skropidis the Head of Marketing at Samsung said “It may matter with the trade that Panasonic are number one but with consumers they are two different brands”.
When asked whether Samsung would consider a two brand strategy in an effort to preserve their premium brand status he said “No”.
He added “Several companies have used this approach in the past. Unilever have been doing it for years and in some cases sub brands work. Our strategy is to build Samsung as a single brand”.
According to Steve Rust, the CEO of Panasonic, the team at Sanyo have done a “brilliant job” of getting into retailers where “in a lot of cases the Panasonic brand is not sold”.
He said “Sanyo is an old trusted brand which is ideally pitched.”
