-->

Toshiba eyeing Provincial Market (New Toshiba store was opened at Abreeza Mall Davao)

TOSHIBA, one of the top makers of computers in the world, is eyeing to grow its market in the Philippines by setting up more concept stores in the provinces with the target of increasing its revenues in the country by between 20 to 30%.

On Wednesday afternoon, companies distributing the product in the Philippines opened its fourth concept store in the country at the newly shopping mall of Abreeza, the project of the Ayala Land Inc. and the Anflo Investment and Management Corp.

Edgardo B. Isleta, president of Tricom Dynamics Inc., said the company is concentrating in bringing into the provinces the Toshiba products. “We will bring to Davao the best notebooks in design, in specifications and in terms of after-sales.”
Michael FW Wong, president of the CompLink, the other company involved in bringing the brand to the Philippines, said the brand is bringing into the country the best notebooks that can compete with the products of the bigger names in the industry.
“We will soon see the best products that the market has to offer,” Wong told the TIMES, adding that Toshiba’s new offerings have been noticed by the technology experts in the country.

The two companies will also soon open another concept store in a still unknown location in Central Luzon. It already has two stores in Metro Manila and one in Cebu.
Krislyn Chia of Toshiba Singapore Pts. Ltd. Admitted that the Philippines is among the countries where the brand is weak the country was fifth as a market for the brand among members of the Association Southeast Asian Nations.

However, Chia noted that the country has a great potential to grow big considering that the brand has not penetrated the provincial markets. “It (Philippines) has a very big potential to grow as market considering that it is a big country,” she told the TIMES at the sideline of the press conference during the opening of the concept store of the brand.
Vicente C. Tantuico Jr., Tricom executive vice president, said last year, the brand registered a revene of about P1.25 billion last year as the brand sold about 4,000-6,000 notebook computers a month.

Tantuico is confident that with the opening of more concept store, the revenues of the band will continually grow and its hold of the market will be stronger. 

However, the brand has yet to reveal whether it will offer to the local market the so-called tablet computers. Siow E. Hunt, Toshiba Singapore senior specialist in product marketing, however, confirmed the company has also gone into manufacturing tablets, although it has yet to start considering the Philippine market for the products.

Hunt, however, confirmed that the company will soon introduce several new products in the country as the life cycle of a model is between six and eight months. “(The number of new model) will depend on the acceptability of the market,” he added.

Source: MindanaoTimes.Net