Two electrical appliance companies -- Toshiba and Mitsubishi -- remain upbeat about their prospects despite tough competition and myriad negative factors including the deadly virus outbreak, the domestic economic slowdown and widespread drought.
Simon Liu, president of Toshiba Thailand, the marketer and distributor of Toshiba appliances, said the company still believes in Thailand's strong economic fundamentals. Revenue growth is projected at 15% this year.
Mr Liu said to achieve the sales goal, the company will launch new products to the market, health and pollution solutions in particular.
The company will also continue promoting sales, building its brand, enhancing the image of distribution outlets and developing various platforms to improve after-sales service and logistics systems.
"Asia-Pacific is a strong driving force for our growth. We believe Thailand is still among markets with the most potential," he said.
Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul, the chair of Toshiba Thailand, said the company will launch 38 new products to the market this year, focused on air conditioners, refrigerators and washing machines.
A water purifier will be launched in the Thai market in the second quarter this year, the second country in the region after Vietnam.
The water purifier market is attractive because Thailand has problems with water quality, said Mrs Kobkarn, a former tourism and sports minister.
She said although 2020 will be a tough year for the appliance business, people are ready to spend more, notably on products that will help their health problems.
"With new products in response to younger buyers' demand and our experience in marketing and strong distribution channels, we believe Toshiba can overcome all obstacles not only this year but also in the future," said Mrs Kobkarn.
Hiroyuki Takase, the company's senior director for sales and marketing, said apart from sales growth of 15% this year, the company set a long-term plan to become a top three electrical appliance brand in three years, up from seventh place.
Yasushi Moriyama, managing director of Mitsubishi Electric Kang Yong Wattana Co, said the company will allocate about 1 billion baht to promote new products this year.
The plan is to launch new products focusing on air conditioners, refrigerators and electrical fans.
The company launched new air-conditioner models with PM2.5 filter technology to cope with pollution.
Mitsubishi is also debuting its first logistics hub in Lampang province to cover services in 12 provinces, upgrading its after-sales service to respond to customers faster.
"We are still concerned about the country's economic prospects and the impact of the outbreak of the coronavirus," he said.
"But by pursuing various strategies, we expect our sales to record growth of 8% to 16.5 billion baht in the new fiscal year starting from April 1, 2020."
Praphon Potivorakun, the company's deputy managing director, said in fiscal 2020, Mitsubishi will invest over 30 million baht to upgrade the competency of Mitsubishi Electric service centres to be able to cover new service areas nationwide and provide Express Team Service for residential air conditioner services within 24 hours.