Electrical-appliance industry / Toshiba

Editorial staff

Toshiba Thailand Co, the marketer and distributor of Toshiba home appliance, expects that the Thai electrical-appliance industry will resume its growth at 2-3% this year.

Alex Ma, the company’s deputy managing director, said that Thailand ’s electrical-appliance industry, which covers cell phones, notebooks, cameras, household appliances, and TVs, was worth about 260.35 billion baht in 2023, -1% from over the same period in 2022.

Mr. Alex Ma

In terms of sold units, it shrank by 6%. Just 44.88 billion electric appliances were sold in Thailand last year. The decline of electrical appliance industry was driven by smartphones, featurephones and core wearables, which contracted by 3%, while a 15% shrank on IT products such as mobile computing, printers, media tablets. Both telecom and IT categories has total sales portion of 58% in the electrical appliance industry.

Though the industry saw a growth in household appliances, which refers to refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners, and small appliances, it cannot offset the declining of IT and telecom industry.

‘’We are optimistic about the economic growth this year due to the rebounding tourism business along with the change in tourist’s profile. Also, the government’s easy e-receipt project also helps drive growth of overall electrical appliance. We will move forward to grow our business this year,’’ Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul, the company’s chairperson said.

In 2024, Toshiba Thailand is celebrating its 55th anniversary. It sets to grow business by over 20% this year. Business of Toshiba in 2023 grew over 14% from the earlier year. By product category, refrigerator products has growth of 4.3%, washing machine grew 16.1%, microwave oven 37.5% ,small appliances 18.1%, water-related products 14.8% , air conditioners 127.6%.

Thunpapat Ariyavoravadh, the company’s marketing director, said that the company will triple its marketing budget for Toshiba brand building, raising its brand awareness, foster trust, and enhance access to customers. It has launched the “55 Years of Caring…All Details Matter” campaign with popular actor, Prin “Mark” Suparat as the presenter. The move is not just appeal its brand’s current customers but also new and younger customers reachable.

The integrated marketing campaign includes the clip that will be broadcasted on TV, online media. The campaign will also deploy out-of-home media, electric-train media, and others.

Furthermore, the company plans to revamp its shops and set up 10 more stores this year to provide consumers with opportunities to experience Toshiba’s smart solutions .

Ekdanai Tuntipumiamorn, the company’s product-strategy manager, said the company intends to launch 52 new models across mid-to-high segments this year to respond better to the growing demands. The company will highlight four-door refrigerators, side-by-side two-door refrigerators, front-load washing machines, digital rice cooker and automatic dishwasher.

In addition, distribution networks will also expand, with a stronger focus on high-end points of sale and experience stores for the showcases of smart solutions that have already caught on among the new generation.

With all business plan, the company aims its corporate market share to increase to 6.8% this year, up from last year of 6.3%.