'We want to be seen as a complete imaging solution provider company'

Having been with Canon for the last 22 years, Motoyasu (Matt) Ishii, through

his able leadership, has helped Canon become the leading bubblejet brand in

Singapore. His efforts have also seen Canon achieving leading position in the

scanner market and making record growth in laser beam printer sales. As director

and GM of the consumer system products and consumer imaging products divisions,

Ishii aims to project Canon as a complete imaging solution provider company. He

tells DQCI that he is looking at establishing a strong corporate channel for the

country.

Where do you see India as a market in the entire Canon perspective?



When we look at IDC figures, it indicates that inkjet market is growing

massively. Until last year, Malaysia was the fastest growing country in the

South-East Asian market. But from this year onwards, India will become the

number one market in this region (excluding China). We believe that by 2005

India will develop to become a 1.3 million inkjet unit market. And realizing

this fact, India becomes a very important market for us and Canon will continue

to increase its focus on this country.

Motoyasu Ishii, Director and GM, Consumer System Products Division, Canon Singapore Pte Ltd

What are your strategies to ensure that India brings in good revenue for

Canon?



Canon started its Indian operations in 1997 but frankly speaking our channel

strategy, product line and infrastructure were not all that satisfactory. That

is why since July last year, we have worked towards improving Canon’s

infrastructure. Now we have a very organized team and we are already going

full-thrust on creating a very organized channel.

We have also restructured our distribution model. So now in addition to two

national distributors we also have four regional distributors and more than 600

resellers across the country. We are also taking necessary steps in building up

the Canon brand.

In addition to this, we have widened our product offering. Besides bubblejet

printers, we also have scanners, laser beam printers, copiers and projectors. We

want the channel and customer to see us as a complete imaging solution provider

company.

Who are your major competitors?



In the inkjet market and laser market it is HP which is the unquestionable

leader as of today. However, we do see our marketshare growing day by day in the

inkjet market. In the laser printer segment, HP would continue its leadership

there.

Among scanners, the Indian market has many Taiwanese players. I believe that

these players will stop selling scanners soon and we will be able to gain good

share in that segment.

Why do you say that Taiwanese companies will stop selling scanners?



Unlike the inkjet and laser printer market, the growth in scanners is not

very high in Asian countries. In fact globally especially in US the scanner

market is now shrinking. Even in Europe the demand will reach its peak in 2003

and will start to shrink after that.

Now these Taiwanese scanner companies have their major business coming from

US and Europe. As a result of shrinking demand they would not be able to sustain

large manufacturing facilities. Also the growing demand for digital cameras will

see the scanner market shrinking further. I believe that in the near future

there would only be four major player in this product space viz, Canon, HP,

Epson and Microtek.

What is the pricing strategy that you have adopted for India?



We have developed a very reasonable pricing strategy for the Indian

end-user. For our consumer products, the buyer not only gets a good range in

terms of products but also pricing. The products that we are offering currently

are very competitively priced and each one them offers great value for money.

How important a role do you think would retailing play in Canon’s

business?



Retailing will be one of the key ingredients fueling Canon’s growth in the

country. And with IT products increasingly becoming more like consumer goods, it

is essential that we have a good retail presence in the country. This approach

is already existing in the western countries and has worked successfully.

For convenience of end-users too more retail shops are required, and we very

well realize this fact. Retail shops are also important to address the

post-purchase problems faced by customers. This is also the reason we are

establishing Canon Care Centers across the country to look after customer needs.

Where do you place service and support in your entire business model?



Canon has always been very particular about product quality. I can gladly

say that our quality assurance system is much more stricter than our

competition. So service becomes the most important selling point for Canon. That’s

why the defect ratio for our bubblejet printers is always between zero and one

percent, while it may be between three and five percent for our competitors.

Our Canon Care Centers are established to look after this very critical

aspect of service. We also have a support helpline which provides assistance to

the customer round the clock. So we put even greater emphasis on support and

service than sale.

If there is one weakness that you feel Canon still has to overcome in the

Indian market, what would it be? How do you intend to address it?



We feel that our corporate channel as of now is a bit weak. Our channel so

far has been only strong in retail selling, but when it comes to corporate

selling a lot needs to be accomplished. We have to develop a channel which can

aggressively sell consumer products to corporate segment.

We are looking at identifying dealers who have good corporate relationships

and are strong at selling to that segment. In due course of time we will tie-up

with dealers who are good at corporate selling.

Where do you see Canon’s business going from here?



We are more than confident of India as a market. And we are sure that by

offering a wide range of products complemented by unparallelled service support,

all at a very reasonable price, our business is only going to grow in the days

to come. With Canon India’s channel network also getting wider and stronger,

we are sure that Canon will attain the desired reach and sales figures in this

country.

GOLDIE in Mumbai