Panasonic unveils new products to woo back customers

New Delhi, June 15 (UNI) Aiming to woo back Indian customers and recapture the consumer durables market in the country, Panasonic India today launched a new range of products including Plasma, LCD televisions and digital cameras.

Part of the Japan-based Matsushita Electric Group (MEG), Panasonic India is targeting to capture 25 per cent share of the Indian market and catch up with the tough rivals like LG, Sony and Samsung, in the next couple of years.

''We are far behind than our rivals but there is tremendous potential in the market. We hope to tap about 25 per cent share in the consumer durables category in the next two years,'' Panasonic India Private Ltd MD Shrikrishna G Kulkarni told reporters here.

Panasonic's sales stood at Rs 125 crore in 2005-06, Mr Kulkarni said adding that the company aims to touch a target of Rs 200-300 crore this fiscal.

As part of its strategy, the company launched two models each of its flagship product Plasma TV and LCD TV under the brand name 'Viera', priced at Rs 1,39,900 onwards and Rs 49,990 onwards respectively.

Panasonic's major share of business comes from its Plasma colour televisions, which constitute a decent 10 per cent market share in the country.

Though, the company suffered loss in the last fiscal it wants to recapture the imagination of the customers in India with a whole new range of digital video cameras priced from Rs 19,990 under the banner 'e.com'.

The company's Marketing and Customer Support Head Shashi Bhushan said they expect to score a double digit share in the market in the digital cameras segment, in the near future.

With the launch of its new lifestyle products the company has also entered the category of digital still cameras. The new models launched will be available at Rs 13,990 onwards under the name 'Lumix'.

Panasonic offers a range of over 12,000 products including washing machines, batteries, plasma TV and digital video cameras.

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