Panasonic eyes region to expand consumer business

Singapore

PANASONIC Corp is eyeing Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia as the key markets to drive the growth of its consumer business in the region, banking on a rising middle class and nagging concerns over air quality in South-east Asia.

"Home, wellness and automotive are the major segments that will drive growth in the segment," said Jake Hirose, Panasonic's managing director for consumer appliances marketing for Asia-Pacific.

While acknowledging that the pandemic has brought about challenges, such as difficulty in deploying service engineers to various sites to install air conditioners due to travel restrictions, it has also led to opportunities.

"Because people can't travel, they are spending more time in the house. This helps stimulate purchases of televisions, refrigerators, kitchen appliances like bread makers . . .etc," Mr Hirose said.

Sales have started to improve since July, compared to the April-June trough last year when most businesses were shuttered by the pandemic.

For the three months ended Dec 31, 2020, parent Panasonic Corp posted a 30 per cent rise in operating profit to 130.2 billion yen (S$1.6 billion), above a Refinitiv estimate of 74.6 billion yen from four analysts.

Turnover was 1.8 trillion yen, driven by businesses that captured new opportunities created by increasing demand related to air-conditioning, air quality and public hygiene.

Consumer appliances - which include items such as refrigerators and air conditioners to health and beauty solutions - account for 30 per cent of the group's sales. Of this, Asia-Pacific accounts for a third of the sales.

Panasonic is leveraging its nanoe technology -- a system that uses electricity and nano technology to inhibit the growth of bacteria and viruses - to offer new consumer solutions. To date, the technology has been embedded into a number of consumer products. The best sellers have been air conditioners and air ventilator-types of products, which account for half of sales.

Increasingly, the technology is being applied outside homes, and in community areas such as schools and hospitals, and public transportation such as trains and buses. The nanoe diffuser has also been embedded inside Toyota, Suzuki and Mazda vehicles. Just last month, Panasonic said some 5,500 GrabCar Premium vehicles in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Jakarta will be installed with the diffuser by mid-March.

Like most businesses, Covid-19 has brought to the fore the need to accelerate its online "click and pick" strategy, especially since its omni channels including Best Denki and Harvey Norman stores have been challenged by travel restrictions.

Hence, Panasonic recently partnered Singapore-based software provider, Anchanto, to drive consumer engagement and unique experiences across different countries, models and systems - a move the Japanese multinational electronics company hopes will spur its e-commerce revenue share.

"I believe we can expand our business through business-to-business (B2B) and online sales. We can grow B2B using our nanoe technology and grow the business touchpoints beyond legacy businesses and expand the product range for commercial use too," said Mr Hirose from his office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which is the regional headquarters for the South-east Asia and Oceania region.