Canon to enter home segment

CIRCUIT EC / Bangalore

CANON India has drawn up a distribution strategy to enter the home segment in a big way. The aim is to bring digital imaging solutions to consumers through retail stores.

The company has opened its 18th Canon retail station in Bangalore. Says Alok Bharadwaj, director and general manager, Consumer Imaging & Information Division, Canon India, “A retail revolution is taking place in Bangalore and we want to increase our market share in this segment by 30 percent across our product portfolio.” The company opened Canon retail stores in Chennai, Hyderabad and Kochi recently, and has drawn up plans to increase its network of retail points from 60 to 130 and service centres from 29 to 35 by end 2004.

It has also launched 20 new digital imaging products in the market, including seven digital cameras, two all-in-ones (AIOs), a photo printer for SOHO (small office home office) users, a portable Bluetooth mobile printer, a bubblejet photo printer, three video camcorders and one home theatre projector. The i990 is a photo printer that prints an A4 photo in just 37 seconds. It can print directly from any Canon digital camera or camcorder or from a wide range of PictBridge-enabled cameras without a PC. To bolster its marketing efforts, the company is pumping Rs 20 crore into advertising, market research, retail expansion plans, in-store branding and training its partners.

Bharadwaj says: “The new products we have launched encourage the concept of ‘do-it-yourself’. With the new product line, our retail strategy and marketing plans will see us reach a figure of Rs 100 crore by 2004. We are expecting revenue growth of 59 percent in 2004.”