Canon guns for No. 1 slot in camera and printers market

Rahul Kapoor - Televisionpoint.com | New Delhi
The $ 45 billion Japanese photographic and digital imaging solutions major, Canon, is gunning for the numero uno slot in the domestic digital camera and laser printers market by 2010. Despite the economic slowdown, Canon India has earned a revenue of Rs 665 crore in 2008, registering 20 per cent growth in the first eight months of 2009.

Canon has taken a two pronged strategy to emerge as market leader. "The gap in market share with regard to market leaders in both the digital camera and laser printer segments is marginal. We have set up a target to emerge as a leader in these two product segment by 2010." says Alok Bharadwaj, senior vice-president, Canon India.

Bharadwaj adds, "In the digital cameras space, the plan is to emerge as a lifestyle brand. Whereas in the laser printers segment, the strategy is to tie up with system integrators like Wipro, HCL, Dell and Lenovo to bundle our printers."

As per Canon India's internal estimates, the company enjoys about a 38 per cent share in laser printers which is a shade below Hewlett-Packard's. Whereas in the digital camera space, Canon India's share is at 25 per cent next to Sony. The company already enjoys market leadership in the Indian copier market with a share of about 28 per cent.

As per its strategy, Canon will provide a greater thrust on partnership with modern retail and expand its lifestyle digital camera range. Bharadwaj, however, said Canon will continue with its focus on technological innovation in the professional segment.

Canon's digital camera business in India is growing at 28 per cent. In laser printers, Canon India has been growing much faster at 60 per cent. In 2009, the company grew its share in laser printer from 25 per cent to 33 per cent in the first half.

The printer business had a revenue of around Rs 132 crore last year and is expected to grow up to Rs 200 crore this year. This will account for 20 per cent to the company's targeted revenue of Rs 800 crore in 2009. Canon eventually plans to grow the contribution of printer biz to 25 per cent.

Bharadwaj also reveals that the company will spend aggressively on its marketing initiatives. The company boasts of a 50:50 share of ATL (above the line or mainstream media) and BTL (below-the-line) in its annual marketing budget of Rs 80 crore in 2008.

However, the current year saw the company's marketing spend increasing by Rs 10 crore, leaving it with Rs 90 crore to spend, with consumers increasingly deferring their buying decisions. The management has also decided to increase the BTL spend by 20 per cent to provide consumers with hands on product experience.

Canon India's BTL share now stands at 70 per cent. In a product category, where the technology obsolescence rate and brand loyalty is high and the consumer depends more on peer discussions and hands-on experience, Canon India has decided to create higher consumer engagement and also sharing with the target the technical knowledge on how to use the product better.

Bharadwaj adds that there is a strong need to provide the five 'E's - Experience, Education, Engagement, Excitement and Enjoyment - to its customers. "What happens on ground is far more important than what is shown on television," adds Bharadwaj.

For consumers, Canon launched several new BTL initiatives to tap into existing consumers who were considering second buys, as well as first time buyers, while also increasing the intensity of its existing consumer engagement programmes.

The company is conducting regular workshops for consumers as well as with celebrity photographer Atul Kasbekar. It is also going to schools and has created an online community through which it invites members to participate in contests.

For traders, the company launched a dealer involvement programme where the company took the spouses of dealers who achieved sales targets on a cruise to Singapore and other places. Canon has also realised that out of the total dealers present in the market, only 55 per cent were storing Canon's products and therefore the company is now on a fast drive to get as many dealers in its network as possible.

Canon also increased its visibility through signage and shop banners and expanded its distribution channels by contacting more retailers and asking them to store Canon products. However, it's not just camera products for Canon - an equal spend is being made on other products such as printers, projectors and scanners.

Recently, Canon India has joined hands with The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) Delhi to jointly launched TiEcon Delhi Photo Contest 2009, a photography contest, which features pictures that bring out the entrepreneurial passion of the participants.

Bharadwaj says, " Since an economic upsurge positively helps our business, expanding the entrepreneurship base is part of our basic strategy. Small and medium enterprise owners, as well as large businesses, form an integral part of our client base - a good reason for us to be involved in such a programme."

The contest invites entries from amateurs and professional photographers alike, who have the spirit of entrepreneurship. The submitted entries have to bring out some aspect of entrepreneurship. The participant's workplace, the business environment in which he or she operates, depicting human emotions of an entrepreneur or even a picture taken on the street.