Samsung Malaysia Electronics Sdn Bhd is looking to grow its Smart television (TV) market 1.5 times (x) larger in the 2012 financial year, with a target to sell 12 million units, according to its managing director Kwon Jae Hoon.
“In South-East Asia, we achieved 41% sales growth. As the pioneer in Smart TVs, Samsung remains the market leader for three-dimensional (3D) Smart TVs in the region with approximately 44% market share,” Kwon told The Malaysian Reserve in an exclusive interview.
“Though 2012 will be a challenging year for most businesses, Samsung believes that we can still maintain a double-digit growth rate in 2012, as we continue to develop new products,” Kwon said.
“With several nascent markets in the region, we will still see strong demand due to fundamental growth of the emerging economies,” he added.
According to DisplaySearch, the global liquid crystal display (LCD) TV market is expected to grow about 7%-8% and the growth for Smart TV is expected to be 1.5x larger, Kwon added. DisplaySearch is a market research and consulting firm.
“Offering a wide range of electronic products, Samsung aims to address the needs of consumers in Malaysia, including those who intend to purchase new TVs, with state-of-the-art technology, brilliant viewing abilities and Internet connectivity,” he said.
Samsung’s range of Smart TVs offers consumers life-enriching and highly interactive solutions, with prices ranging between RM1,599 and RM19,999, according to the company.
On challenges faced, he said Samsung is committed to offer superior products and devices that enable consumers to live a truly digital lifestyle. “One of our challenges is to customise products that cater to individual markets,” Kwon said.
“Our research has shown that consumers in different regions have different requirements and consumption habits. Samsung will actively stay ahead and address the needs and demands of this diverse market.”
On prospects for 2012, Samsung expects to further develop the Smart TV ecosystem in 2012.
Its first step was incorporating the Smart Evolution feature into the Smart TV 2012 product, which allows customers to always be updated on the latest technologies available in the market by using Samsung’s Evolution Kit.
On new products, Samsung revealed that Samsung is continually driving innovation to introduce new products in the third- and fourth-quarters of the 2012 financial year. Samsung launched its latest Smart TV on April 19, 2012, and its Samsung Galaxy S III in May 2012.
