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Published on March 22, 2008

Panasonic Siew Sales (Thailand) will spend Bt400 million to market digital cameras and retain its No-2 ranking for digital-video-camera sales this year.

It plans to achieve these goals by promoting brand awareness and boosting sales.

Panasonic also intends to move up a notch from its present fourth place in the digital-camera market. It now enjoys 12 per cent of the Bt10.64-billion market.

Sony is the leader in the digital-camera market with 23 per cent, followed by Canon with 20 per cent and Nikon with 13.5 per cent.

Panasonic's Bt2.5 billion worth of digital-video-camera sales represents a 20-per-cent market share, after Sony's 60 per cent.

To achieve its targets, the company will launch a slew of new digital cameras and digital video cameras.

Yesterday, it announced it would launch 12 new digital video cameras and 10 new digital cameras in the first half of the year. It will also launch new campaigns, including "Panasonic Lumix Friends".

Panasonic expects the campaigns to help sell 180,000 digital cameras worth Bt1.6 billion. Last year, it sold 106,000 worth Bt1.1 billion.

It also plans to sell 30,000 digital video cameras this year, up from 22,000 last year.

"We're trying to get buyers to use digital video cameras in daily life. Our new models are compact, light and easy to carry. People take them everywhere," said product manager Tassanee Srikham.

Tassanee said the market for digital video cameras was enjoying strong growth, rising 8 per cent last year. He expects 9-per-cent growth this year.

Meanwhile, digital cameras continue to experience softer sales.

As many consumers already own cameras and gadgets like handsets with cameras, sales are expected to remain weak.

The digital-camera market is expected to grow only 12 per cent, down from 17 per cent last year.

Nitida Asawanipont

The Nation