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| Sharp Poland Managing Director Jacek Klekowski |
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Before 2005, Sharp used to be known in Poland solely for office equipment and machines, such as copiers, electronic cash registers, calculators and fax machines.
In the last three years, the Japanese electronics giant has embarked on an aggressive rebranding campaign to promote its leading digital and electronic products, and obtained a bigger market share in the country in the process.
"When I was promoted to managing director in 2005, I decided to complete our corporate strategy and focus more on Sharp’s brand image by heavily marketing our products. We invested in billboards, television commercials and many other avenues of advertising," says Sharp Poland chief Jacek Klekowski.
"Cooperation with Cyfra+, one of the biggest satellite TV providers on the Polish market (with over 1 million subscribers), has resulted in increased sales of TV sets – with full HD resolution in particular," he adds.
By building close relations with its distributors, Sharp Poland has become one of the country's leading electronic brands with its AQUOS LCD TV emerging the most popular product.
"Most television sets found in Western European homes are LCD or flat screens. Poland used to be behind, but today the situation has completely changed. The demand for LCD TVs is growing very fast. We focused only on selling LCD TVs. It was a drastic change at first, but we wanted to show our customers our consistency to the new changes happening in technology. It was very risky, but it made it all the more possible to increase our turnover on the LCD TV sets, and in the end, it did," he said
In 2008, Sharp Poland's turnover rose 70 million euros over the previous year to around 110 million euros.
"In June 2008, the president of Sharp Corp. in Japan, Katsuhiko Machida, visited Poland, and saw the potential of the local market and was pleased with our increasing growth. Local sales were growing more than 50 percent each year and this is attributed to Poland's large population of almost 40 million," says Klekowski.
In the near future, Sharp Poland plans to introduce new products that boast its cutting-edge technology.
"We would also like to increase our market share in other home appliance segments, with special attention to food storage appliances, food preparation equipment and devices. Among the mentioned segments, the most important are refrigerators, air conditioners and SuperSteam ovens with convection and microwave functions, or food heating and cooking systems that are a combination of conventional microwave ovens and a unique solution called the 'super-heated steam system,'" says Klekowski.
"This technology is more efficient than the current steam technology in devices used in restaurants and homes. Although this technology is extremely sophisticated and quite costly, Sharp Corp. has successfully introduced it into home appliances. The newest models will be available on the Polish market soon," he adds.
www.sharp.pl
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