A number of Japanese consumer electronics manufacturers, including Canon Inc, have begun building up their own sales channels in India to take advantage of fast-growing consumer demand.
Canon will expand its network of franchise stores specializing in digital cameras and printers in the South Asian nation's major and second-tier cities. The stores will be managed by local wholesalers and retailers.
Its first franchise shop opened in a suburb of New Delhi in October. Canon plans to increase the number to 100 by the end of the year and to triple that to 300 by the end of 2013. It aims to boost its Indian sales 260% from last year to 1 billion dollars by 2015.
Sony Corp runs 266 stores handling digital cameras, TVs and other products across India. It plans to add 30 outlets by March 2012.
"We have almost finished building a sales network covering major cities," said the president of Sony's local subsidiary. Sony will focus on second-tier cities of around half a million people from now on.
Panasonic Corp. (6752), meanwhile, will step up its marketing in both urban and rural areas. As part of that effort, it plans a network of 40 stores to cover rural areas throughout India. The outlets will work with a local cosmetics and household goods marketing firm with 120,000 salespeople, commissioning it to sell such items as hair dryers and rice cookers.
For cities, Panasonic will expand its network of 118 stores selling air conditioners, TVs and other items to 200 stores by March 2012. It aims to raise its Indian group sales from slightly more than 40 billion yen in the fiscal year ended March 2010 to 100 billion yen for the year ending March 2012.
Until recently, Japanese consumer electronics makers relied heavily on local retail chains to sell their products in India, but that strategy has been less successful than hoped.
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