KUALA LUMPUR: Haier Group, China’s largest home appliance company, sees great potential to grow its business in Malaysia, says Asia Pacific president Dr Philip Carmichael. “For a business like ours, opportunities are seen in markets with a growing population and new housing developments.
“This is apparent in Malaysia, where there is an increasing number of families and there are always new homes coming up,” he told StarBiz during a visit to Malaysia last week. Haier has been present in Malaysia since 1998 and currently has five offices and employs some 70 staff. “We are one of the top three most recognised brands in China. In Malaysia, we are not so well known yet. But we are trying to create more confidence among customers in our brand,” said Carmichael.
Dr Philip Carmichael ... ‘Haier is one of the top three most recognisable brands in China.’ One way to achieve that objective was to offer better warranties for its products, he said. “We recently decided to extend the warranty for our flat panel TVs to three years and Malaysia was the first market where we decided to do this.
“We chose Malaysia because we have a strong local team. So far, feedback (on our extended warranty scheme) has been positive,” he said. The group has a production plant in Thailand, which caters to the demand of its Asean markets. During the first quarter of this year, the group expanded its plant to include an air-conditioning facility, said Carmichael.
“Where others are cutting down their base of operations, we continue to invest. We added the (air-conditioning) facility to support our businesses in Asean and to highlight our commitment to this region,” he said. According to reports, the group’s turnover increased by 8% to 122 billion yuan (US$17.8bil) in 2008.
Its biggest market was China, which accounted for 70% of its total turnover, while the balance 30% was from its businesses in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific, said Carmichael. He said it was too early to forecast the impact of the current economic downturn on its topline for 2009. “Everyone has been affected. However, we have taken some proactive actions to counter the impact of the global economic recession and so far, we are heading in the right direction.”
In May, Haier acquired a 20% stake in New Zealand-based appliance company Fisher & Paykel. The alliance confers the companies exclusive distribution rights for each other’s products in their respective home markets. “This partnership will allow us to enhance our respective businesses in terms of marketing and research and development (R&D). It would help introduce Fisher & Paykel’s products to the China market and fast track our business in the Oceania region,” said Carmichael.
According to him, Fisher & Paykel has a 55% and 20% share of the home appliance market in New Zealand and Australia respectively. “We believe this cooperation will help us come out of this crisis stronger than when we went in,” said Carmichael. In China, Haier is capitalising on the central government’s subsidy scheme to spur domestic consumption. The scheme entitles each rural household to a 13% government rebate on one home appliance item.
With 6,000 stores in 2,000 locations in China, Haier was looking to tap the rural market, said Carmichael. “About 65% of the population in China is in the countryside. With our outlets situated in various locations, the people in rural areas need not travel to the city just to purchase home appliances.” He said Haier had also begun to manufacture products suitable for the rural population. For example, the company designed the world’s first “rodent-proof refrigerator”, with a cooler compressor and extra cladding on the wiring.
“The compressors on the back of the refrigerators are warm and a common nesting ground for rats, which are abundant in the countryside. “All these innovations to our products will help create more confidence in our brand, which in turn gives us confidence to survive the economic crisis,” he added. Haier produces a full line of home appliances, ranging from entry level, mid-range to high-end products. It spends about 6% of its annual revenue on research and development each year. Currently, it is the second largest white goods manufacturer in the world.
0 comments:
Post a Comment