Panasonic has an ambitious project to boost sales in India

Manish Sharma
Managing Director, 
Panasonic India

Even though the Indian smartphone market is on a high-growth path, the country still offers a vast scope for newer players to enter and garner the best of the prospects offered by this space. In line with this, after an in-depth understanding of the consumer requirements, Panasonic conducted a thorough study of the marketplace and with its strong focus on India, it marked its  entry in the smartphone market with the launch of P51, targeting the young generation. Post this launch, Panasonic took a step further by unveiling three new smartphones – P11, T21 and T11. These smartphones are designed to deliver on Panasonic’s brand promise of “Smart Solutions for Smart People”. 

Reinforcing its commitment to deliver superior smartphone experience to its consumers in India, the fifth in the series of Panasonic’s series of smartphones, was T31. Through this latest offering, Panasonic reiterated its commitment to offer superior quality smartphone experience at an affordable pricing. Manish Sharma, Managing Director, Panasonic India, talked more on the Company’s proficiency to innovate and offer its customers with unique software and hardware, with the VARINDIA team. Edited excerpts: 

The low-cost tablet market is on the rise in India. What do you have to say to this sudden surge and what are your plans for this particular market?

For a price-conscious market like India, we observe that it is about owning a combination device, meeting the needs with one device instead of two. Also, the return charges on low-cost seven-inch tablets have been unexplainably large. This is the reason as to why we see a growth on the low-cost tablet market today. As for Panasonic India’s plans, currently Panasonic does not have any tablet in the existing product basket, but the work on the development of a product is under progress . 

How much of Panasonic’s sales come from the Channel, Retail and e-commerce media? Which one is flourishing for you at present?

Panasonic has adopted a 360-degree approach when it comes to channel presence and penetration. Taking into consideration the rising trend of purchases being done from modern retail, especially in the mobility space, 25 per cent of overall Panasonic Mobile phone sales come from the Modern Retail channel. 

India being a price-sensitive market and more than half of the population of the country comprising of “masses”, what is your strategy to connect to this section of customers? How do you plan to tap the Feature phone market?

Continuing with our focus on the mobility segment and following up on the recent success in the smartphones category, we have already launched two Feature phones priced at Rs.1,790 and Rs.1,350. With an aim to deliver an affordable mobile experience, these are a perfect solution for customers purchasing a low-priced phone without having to sacrifice on the reliability aspect. With these new offerings, Panasonic is focussing on expanding beyond the metros and delivering a remarkable mobile experience to the Indian mass consumers in the tier-II and tier-III cities. 

How do you try to be at the cutting-edge amidst hundreds of other homegrown Indian brands?

India has been one of the most important countries and potential growth market for Panasonic and we have an ambitious project to significantly increase sales in India. While there is severe competition in the market, we offer a blend of technologies and designs which make our products of smart utility. 

What is your strategy around support?

Panasonic is known worldwide for its quality and customer focus, continuing on the same principles. Panasonic Mobile phones in India are currently being supported by 500 Authorized Service Centres (ASCs) spread across the country, including tier-II and tier-III cities to provide our consumers with high-quality after-sales support. We are continuously working on enhancing the ASC network and quality of service being provided by them.

What are your future plans for the Indian mobile device market?

India is a strategic market for Panasonic. Continuing with our focus on the Indian mobility space which is fast growing, Panasonic will aggressively continue to launch Smart devices in the mobility space designed specifically for Indian consumers and market which is quite different from the global market. The Feature phone is another space where Panasonic is aggressively enhancing the product portfolio. 

satinder@varindia.com