Samsung Phils sees 40% sales growth in ’06

Korea’s Samsung Electronics Philippines Corp. (SEPCO) posted a 30-percent to 40-percent increase in total sales last year, according to Jerry Lacson, general manager for marketing.

In a previous statement, SEPCO vice president for marketing-consumer electronics Dongha Jang said the company expects total sales to hit at least $350 million in 2006.

Lacson estimated that 60 percent of SEPCO’s revenues last year was from the sale of its cellphone products, 25 percent from consumer electronics products and 15 percent from information technology products.

SEPCO has been aggressively promoting its various products – mobile phones, information technology products, appliances and consumer electronics.

For this year, Lacson said, SEPCO is once again targeting a sales revenue growth of 30 percent to 40 percent.

SEPCO, Lacson said, expects a 10-percent to 15-percent growth alone this year in its television sales as consumers shift from the CRT (cathode ray tube) TVs to the more advanced LCD (liquid crystal display) TVs.

He said Samsung LCD TVs have been outselling the competition for the past nine months. Hopefully in another three months Samsung can safely claim to be the market leader in LCD TV sales after posting 12 consecutive months of sales leadership, Lacson said.

According to Lacson, SEPCO is introducing a number of new gadgets this year such as its latest MP3 player by March and a new digital still camera.

Projected sales for Samsung’s white line alone for 2006, Jang had said, is around $25 million. In 2005, Samsung’s white line sales amounted to only $18 million.

Projected sales revenue for 2006 for the white line and audio-visual segment, Jang said, is around $70 million compared to the $40 million in sales revenue earned in 2005.

Samsung’s side-by-side two door refrigerator, Jang said, accounts for 40 percent of the market.

The bulk of Samsung’s total sales revenues comes from mobile phones. Samsung’s mobile phones currently rank No. 2 with a 20-percent market share.

Samsung activities range from local manufacturing of optical disc drives and sales of consumer electronic products – from refrigerators, air conditioners, washing machines, television sets and mobile phones – to IT products that include printers, copiers and scanners, and computer monitors.

Samsung had earlier projected a 50-percent growth in sales of its information technology products and an overall growth of 35 percent this year.

Samsung Philippines posted $300 million in sales in 2005. For its printers and monitors alone, Samsung projects a 25-percent growth. Samsung printers are already No. 2.

Sales of IT products contribute 20 percent to Samsung’s total revenues. Sales of consumer electronics contribute another 20 percent. Samsung printers were introduced in the Philippines only in the last quarter of 2004.

Most of Samsung’s products sold in the Philippines are imported from the company’s other subsidiaries in the region.