Thursday, September 20, 2012

Canon India bullish on East India expansion. Announces marketing investments of INR 40 crores for the festive season

Canon India bullish on East India expansion. Announces marketing investments of INR 40 crores for the festive season
Canon India Pvt. Ltd., India’s No. 1 Complete Digital Imaging Company, today announced its confidence in bullish expansion plans for East India starting with the festival of Durga Puja. The brand has developed robust plans including aggressive marketing strategy, new product launches, attractive pricing and retail expansion, with an aim to achieve an overall target of 27% market share in East India by the end of the year. All this will help the company to reach revenues of INR 2100 crores in 2012 with market share of 25% in cameras and 45% in DSLR category nationally

Investing heavily in marketing and promotion, Canon has budgeted INR 40 crores for the festive season making an overall marketing budget of INR 142 crores for 2012 and plans to open 25 more Canon Image Squares (Canon’s franchisee brand stores) to touch 100 stores in 50 towns from current level of 75 nationally. It announced plans to take stores tally in East India from 8 to 12 by Dec 2012. In east, Canon has stores in Kolkata, Siliguri, Durgapur, Patna, Guwahati & Jamshedpur.

Speaking on the launch Dr. Alok Bharadwaj, Senior Vice President, Canon India said, “East India is a crucial market for Canon and has been significantly contributing to the overall growth of the brand, especially to our camera business division. We are particularly bullish about West Bengal which registered 110% unit growth for digital cameras and 200% for Digital SLR in first 8 months of 2012. In fact, with some luck and some efforts in lifting the buying sentiments during festival times, Canon is expecting to cross much awaited milestone of 100,000 digital cameras and 10,000 Digital SLR in West Bengal this year. This is more than 10% of national sales just in one state. This has made Canon’s market share more than 30% here”

“ 2012 has been most difficult year for digital Camera industry. Industry growth has generally been flat. However Canon has grown over 60%. Our effort is to reconfiguring the photography business in India with youth-centric propositions using a three-pronged strategy of celebrity endorsement, imaging brand stores expansion and faster product portfolio churn with strong range. We introduced 25 new products in 2012 and now offer 36 models to take the consumer experience with Canon to the next level. With 75 brand stores in 45 towns, we are attempting to make experience as a big differentiator. Canon is all set to achieve Rs 2100 Cr revenues in 2012 in India with 32% growth over 2011, a step in line with $ 1 Billion revenues by 2015. " Dr Bharadwaj added

The company has rolled out a new marketing campaign exclusively for Durga Puja, featuring the company’s brand icon, Anushka Sharma. It is an extension of Canon’s highly successful ‘What Makes Us Click’ campaign and retains the exuberance, energy and youthful appearance of the brand. The entire communication centers on the brand ambassador, Anushka in a playful moment with friends blowing the conch (an integral part of Durga Puja), perfectly matching the brand personality, while infusing the spirit and flavor of the festive season to achieve a stronger connect with the target audience.

Extremely focused to make the campaign a hit in East India market, Canon has extended the celebrations with print advertisements, a radio campaign and by placing GSBs and point of sale material at all Canon retail outlets in the region.

Redefining perfectionism, Canon PowerShot SX500 IS and PowerShot SX160 IS launched for Durga Puja is an extension of Canon’s extremely successful ‘What Makes Us Click’ campaign and retains the exuberance, energy and youthful appearance of the brand, while infusing the spirit and flavor of photo enthusiam to build a stronger connect with the target audience. The price for these 2 super zoom models of stylish cameras are priced at INR 19,995/-for SX500IS and INR 12,995/- SX160IS.

“To provide compelling desires for 2012 festive buying, Canon announced price drops in 16 models comprising of 13 digital cameras and 3 digital SLR and as a part of our overall business plan. The drop ranges from Rs 500-11000 . We are also set to increase our current retail presence from 200 to 280 by the end of 2012 in East India,” Dr. Bharadwaj further added.

As part of the festive celebrations, Canon is offering a 4GB SD card and a carry case to each customer on the purchase of every digital camera. Additionally, Canon slashed down the prices for 13 digital camera models & 3 models of D-SLR during last one month and include drops in 4 models announced today. This includes 2 models of DSLR category (EOS 1100D & 600D) and 2 models of Canon PowerShot (A810, G12) category.

About Canon Inc.

Canon Inc. (NYSE: CAJ), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a leader in the fields of professional and consumer imaging equipment and information systems. Canon’s extensive range of products includes copying machines, inkjet and laser printers, cameras, video equipment, medical equipment and semiconductor-manufacturing equipment. Originally established in 1937 as Precision Optical Industry, Co., Ltd., a camera manufacturer, Canon has successfully diversified and globalized to become a worldwide industry leader in professional and consumer imaging systems and solutions. With over 200,000 employees worldwide, Canon has manufacturing and marketing subsidiaries in Japan, the Americas, Europe, Asia and Oceania; and a global R&D network with companies based in the United States, Europe, Asia and Australia. Canon’s consolidated net sales for fiscal 2011 (ended December 31, 2011) totalled $45.6 billion (at an exchange rate of \78=US$1). Visit the Canon Inc. website at: www.canon.com

Canon in India

Canon India targets a growth of Rs. 2100 crore in 2012 which is 32% growth over last year. Canon focuses on multiple market segments of consumer, B2B, Government & Commercial. Canon’s product portfolio extends over a vast variety of copier MFDs, fax-machines, printers, scanners, All-in-ones, digital cameras, camcorders , cable ID printers, semiconductors and card printers.

Canon India Pvt. Ltd. is a 100% subsidiary of Canon Singapore Pvt. Ltd., a world leader in imaging technologies. Set up in 1997, Canon India markets over 140 comprehensive range of sophisticated contemporary digital imaging. The company today has offices in 10 cities, warehouses in 13 cities across India and employs over 1100 people. Canon has approximately 100 primary channel partners 14 National Retail Chain partners, and over 6000 secondary retail points. Canon has over 75 own retail stores called the Canon Image Square across the country. Oce distributors in India will now be a part of Canon partner network. Canon’s service reach extends to over 2700 towns with over 200 service Engineers, 7 Canon owned service centers and 37 Canon Care Centers. Canon and Océ products are available with complete service support network.