Lenovo aims to top Thai computer market this year

Lenovo aims to be No 1 in Thailand’s personal-computer market this year with at least 20-per-cent market share, and the company will increase its investment budget by 60 per cent. 

The Chinese company’s strategy is to protect its existing strong market segments while driving up sales in emerging ones.

 

Lenovo Thailand’s general manager, Jeerawut Wongpimonporn, said the aim to be the No 1 PC vendor in the Kingdom this year was a part of the goal of becoming No 1 in Asean. Thailand is one of the three countries Lenovo is focusing on in this region – the other two are Malaysia and Vietnam – and budgets to drive up sales in those markets have been increased accordingly.

 

The company will maintain its strong presence in small and medium-sized enterprises while also focusing on expanding its share of the consumer and corporate markets, which currently contribute revenue of 70 and 30 per cent, respectively. 

 

“We will be more aggressive in the corporate market with PCs and System X [servers]. We will [also] redesign Lenovo consumer products to fit the SME market,” Jeerawut said.

 

To achieve the goal of earning more revenue from corporates, the company this year will strengthen its brand awareness. It will invest in new sales channels, product introductions and promotion, human resources, value-added services, and software.

 

“We will increase points of service, support channels, and after-sales service for all product ranges from desktop PCs to notebooks, tablets to smartphones. This year we will expand our [sales] channels from 200 to 400 outlets nationwide,” Jeerawut said.

 

Normally, the company’s investment budget is 30 per cent of revenue, but that proportion will be increased this year. 

 

“We will double the number of sales staff this year. We will also add value to our products by giving users the utilities software to help them work seamlessly through the different Lenovo devices,” he said. This software will be Lenovo’s own and from its independent partners. 

He said the company would focus more on the smartphone market, which it believes has a bright future. It will introduce a lot more smartphones to the Thai market this year. 

 

“We are not among the top five vendors of smartphones and tablets in Thailand. This is another focus area for us this year.” 

 

He said Levono’s core businesses in Thailand were PCs, mobile phones and enterprise products, while the parent company also marketed a cloud system in China. The concept is to pool every type of Lenovo device via Lenovo Cloud. Users can store software and applications on their personal cloud and can access them via any Lenovo devices. 

 

He added that every year, Lenovo donated 50-100 computers to schools in remote areas of Thailand through its dealers.