Toshiba set to hike prices to offset rising operating costs
Leading home-appliance manufacturer Toshiba Thailand plans to raise prices by as much as 5 per cent starting in next month, mainly because of rising costs in its supply chain, labour, electricity and transport.
Vice president Nattaphong Areekul said the company had seen production and logistics costs jump by 5-16 per cent in different categories of home appliances, of which it makes more than 100 products. Refrigerators are among those seeing a huge surge in such costs.
The price rises are aimed at offsetting the rising costs while securing 20-per-cent growth in sales to Bt11 billion this fiscal year as projected, he added.
Toshiba believes that this measure will help sustain business for its 400 dealers across the Kingdom. All dealers have been informed of the decision.
Yukiharu Adachi, president of Toshiba Thailand, said the company’s revenue grew 20 per cent to Bt9 billion in fiscal year 2011, ending March 31 this year.
The revenue came from home appliances at 35 per cent, audio-visual products at 30 per cent, and the rest from information-technology products.
“We also set goals for fiscal year 2012 to increase our sales by 20 per cent,” Adachi said.
Toshiba has seen a great opportunity to build on its leading market position, he said. Moreover, the company is introducing a “Yim Su” campaign by wrapping one side of Bangkok’s Baiyoke Tower with massive signboards to convey the message “YIM SU Kab Kon Thai” or “Together We Can Do It”.
Next week, Toshiba will run commercials featuring staff on many popular television programmes.
Toshiba says it is aiming to cash in on growing popularity of one-door refrigerators by offering innovative products.
The production base for these appliances is in Nonthaburi province, and production is being kept on schedule.
Twist, a new line of one-door refrigerators, was designed in Thailand. The Twist series comes in chic colours and offers a direct-cooling system for fresh foods and vegetables, and an alarm that goes off if the door has been left open for more than a minute and which can also be used as a timer. Toshiba says these features are rarely found in other refrigerator models.
“Notebook demand is also increasing, especially for entry-level models such as netbooks,” Adachi said.
“Android technology has resulted in a lot of new models of various kinds to change our daily lives. They make our life change very quickly. With more than 26 years of notebook-PC expertise and leading technology, we are very pleased to show you the latest notebooks and tablets and how they are evolving.”
He said Toshiba planned to launch its new Regza TV and smart TV series to fit the customers’ new lifestyles. It is sure that competition in the market will becomes more and more severe. Therefore, Toshiba is preparing to strengthen its sales network.
