It’s over wives this time
BY AMADO MACASAET
Sharp bullish on air sanitizing technology
BY IRMA ISIP
Sharp Philippines Inc. is eyeing to grow the sales of its "health" white line products by at least 10 times harping on its revolutionary air sanitizing technology called plasmacluster ion or PCI.
Renan Lacson, senior manager for marketing of Sharp Philippines, said monthly sales of this line which includes split-type air conditioner, no-frost refrigerator, air purifier and ion generator will increase to 2,000 to 3,000 per month compared to just 200 a month last year.
Lacson said sales would be boosted by the reentry of the company in the split-type air conditioner and expansion of its client base.
Peter Villanueva, manager for corporate sales, said the company now wants to broaden the scope of its market to include industrial users like offices, hotels, restaurants, etc. from its current clientele of household. Sharp is also targeting a new market, that of car owners with its car ion-generator.
Similar to how nature purifies the air, PCI emits highly safe positive and negative ions that effectively remove more than 99 percent of air impurities, releasing 25,000 ions within a 1 cubic centimeter space.
The company said this natural air cleaning system inhibits the infectivity of airborne bacteria, allergens and viruses like A (H1N1) human influenza and bird flu.
Lacson said Sharp Philippines would like to approximate the volumes sold in other Asean countries like Thailand and Malaysia of PCI-equipped products due to the increasing awareness on health concerns in living and working spaces in the country. "We want PCI to be a differentiating feature of our products," Lacson said.
He said Sharp sees a lot of opportunities in the split-type aircon segment.
The Philippines is predominantly for window-type air conditioners but demand for split-type especially for condominium and other multiple dwelling units is increasing.
Currently, only 12 percent of the population has air conditioner.
Sharp only has 8 percent of the no-frost refrigerator which is generally geared for the high-end segment.
The market for air conditioner is dominated by Carrier and Panasonic brands.
Sharp currently is the number one in the washing machine business where it expects a very small growth.
Although air purifiers and ion generators represent but a small business for Sharp, this is where the company expects to grow.