“We have been constantly evolving the digital learning and presentation market”

A late entrant in the projector market, Hitachi is trying hard to grab a bigger chunk of the business. Tarun Jain, Country Head – India & Deputy General Manager, Hitachi Home Electronics Asia, talks to Pupul Dutta about the company’s plans

Hitachi plans to increase its market share in the projector category to 14% by 2015. What would be the company’s go-to-market strategy to achieve the same?
India has been a key market for Hitachi both in terms of quantity and value. With a wide range of projectors catering to the professional segment as well as the mass market, we are set for a bullish performance, targeting a market share of 14% in India by 2015. Going forward, we plan to enhance focus on the professional projector market. To tap this segment, we have recently introduced an extensive line up of 16 high-end installation series projectors. At the same time, education, government and home will also be vital segments for Hitachi. Over the next few months, we are slated to introduce some technologically advanced and customised projectors serving the needs of all these segments.
Our go-to-market strategy is a compilation of various strategies segmented on the basis of various factors. We have formulated a specific plan for each activity, such as product, pricing, channel, sales force and promotional activity. With our product strategy, we would be catering to all industry verticals: ProAV, education, corporates, home and thus we plan to reach out to more end-users.

Portability in projectors is driving the market. How are your products addressing this need of enterprises?
Portability of projectors is of importance to only a certain market segment. The projector market is extremely diverse and each segment has varied priorities depending on its projection needs. Currently Hitachi is focusing strongly on the high-end niche projector market. Hitachi’s installation series projectors are feature rich and have tremendous installation flexibility, thus becoming an ideal choice for any type of installation environment. At the same time, the volume zone projector market too remains on Hitachi’s priority list. To address needs of this segment, we are developing customised models with features like wireless connectivity and PC-less presentation. We are making sure that we cater to all segments by strengthening our distribution network in big as well as small cities in India. We are also gearing up our post-sale service accordingly.

Which sector do you expect will be driving projector sales in India and why?
We look forward to the government giving special focus to the education segment and the progression of audio video infrastructure in educational institutions. For the personal or home segment, the changing lifestyle of consumers, access to affordable technology and increase in spending on electronics has led to an upsurge in the demand for high-end products, including projectors. In the corporate and government sectors too, with the IT infrastructure spending becoming an integral part of budgets, projectors have become an essential asset for organisations. High-end projectors for professional usage like cinema, events, retail, branding have always been a big chunk of sales, and now with the ever increasing mall and multiplex penetration in tier II and III markets, this business is only set to soar.

What are the company’s future plans? How do you plan to take on competition?
We have been constantly evolving the digital learning and presentation market, providing customers with a full range of projectors and interactive whiteboards. Our team is planning its strategy in a way that would ensure success by swiftly adapting to market demands and constantly adopting distinctive positioning and marketing strategies.
Hitachi has taken lead in the education segment with the new product line up of ultimate short throw (UST) projectors and created a market for the same. In the high-end projector category, we have created better value for our customers, using rich connectivity features like HD base input and SDI input. We understand that customers need products, which are rich in connectivity, easy to operate with high product performance and reliability. Hitachi focuses on product development, considering all these specifications and launches   products at competitive prices, with assured post-sales support.