Chinese TV maker Skyworth plans to expand in India

The Dollar Business Bureau

Chinese TV manufacturer Skyworth plans to establish an assembling unit or wants to acquire a running plant for the expansion of the company in North India, Jackson Zhang, Managing Director, Skyworth India Electronics Pvt Ltd said.

He was speaking to the media, during the launch of a new television model AIR TV in Tamil Nadu on Monday. The cost of 7.9 mm-thin high technology AIR TV is fixed at Rs 169,990. The Chinese firm also plans to introduce other consumer goods such as washing machines, air conditioners and refrigerators in the Indian market by 2017, he said.

Skyworth India sells set top box and LED televisions currently in the country. The company already has an assembling unit in Hyderabad. It imports the products from China and assembles few models at this plant.

The Chinese firm entered into the Indian market five years ago. Since then, it has concentrated on strengthening its dealer network in the South Indian market. It has roughly around 1,200-1,300 dealers in the country. Among these, approximately 800-900 dealers are in South India.

The market size of the LED TV market in South India is 2.2 million and the company has 3% market share. Now, the company plans to increase its market share to 10% in the country over a period of two years, D Gurmith Singh, Regional Sales Manager, Skyworth India said.

Speaking about the company’s marketing strategy, he said that the prices of their 32-inch TVs are far lower than the prices of its competitors, particularly from Korea.

The prices of some product segments are comparable with that of the competitors, but mostly the company is a price-point player, he said.

Skyworth aims to sell 17 million TVs in this fiscal year. Out of this, it has targeted to sell six million TVs in the foreign markets and 11 million TVs in the domestic market.