HAVING gained a strong foothold in mobile phones, consumer electronics and music players, Samsung is now turning its gunsights on the digital camera segment and has set a two-year target to go from newcomer to market leader.
Despite being a new entrant to this product segment, the Korean tech giant has been snapping at the heels of established rivals like Canon, Nikon and Sony, particularly with its barrage of affordable compact cameras.
Citing statistics from research firm GfK, Ki-Heung Yoon, managing director of the electronics business divison at Samsung Asia, said the company managed to double its market share in Singapore's compact digital camera market from 4 per cent in 2006 to 9 per cent last year.
'Samsung saw more than 100 per cent growth in the category in 2007,' he told BizIT in a recent interview. 'We have a holistic strategy to help us achieve 50 per cent growth in sales volume this year. We expect this to help us grow our market share from 9 per cent to 15 per cent ( in the digital compact camera category).'
If the sales feat is achieved, Samsung will move from being market challenger to rank among the republic's top three camera manufacturers, a grouping which has always been dominated exclusively by Japanese brands like Canon, Nikon, FujiFilm and Casio.
'Our goal is to attain a market share of 25 per cent by 2010,' he stressed.
And if Samsung's track record is anything to go by, incumbents may soon have a cause for concern. The company only guns for top placing in every segment it sets its eyes on and is willing to put enormous marketing and research muscle to realise its aim.
The firm issued a similar war cry last year in the battlefield for portable music players, saying that it was shooting for runner-up position in the cut-throat Singapore market by 2008. Recent statistics from market analysts show that Samsung has indeed displaced homegrown IT darling Creative to become number two, behind runaway leader Apple.
To replicate this success, the company has already made a series of bold moves over the last few years. Besides joining hands with Pentax to develop high-end DSLR (digital single-lens reflex) cameras, the company also shifted the sales and marketing functions for this product category from Samsung Techwin to Samsung Electronics, Mr Yoon revealed.
Samsung Techwin is the business unit responsible for developing the company's digital imaging product line but moving these responsibilities to its more well-heeled counterpart is a sure sign of the firm's aggressive ambition. As a result, consumers can expect more hard-hitting marketing and promotional activities and channels development efforts will also be ramped up accordingly.
'We have also enhanced our research and development for the (digital camera) category by integrating the function into our main Suwon complex in Korea, which will help us better develop compelling products to meet consumers' needs,' he said.
To fuel its ascension into the big league, Samsung last week took the wraps off 11 new digital cameras that are set to hit local retail shelves this year.
These include the NV24HD, the firm's flagship high-definition (HD) offering. The 10 megapixel sharpshooter, set to be launched here in April, can record 720p resolution videos at 30 frames per second and can be linked to a HD television set through a HDMI cable.
Apart from compact cameras aimed at the masses, the company will also introduce its fourth DSLR in the form of the GX-20, a 14.6-megapixel powerhouse designed for demanding shutterbugs. The product can be used with add-on lenses from both Samsung and Pentax, and claims to be dust and moisture resistant. A dual dust reduction system is also built in to keep the image sensor in pristine condition. The GX-20 is set be launched in the second half of this year but pricing remains undisclosed.
source : business-times.asia1.com.sg
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