Korean consumer electronics major Samsung is betting on high-definition (HD) products and new technologies like Bluray and Samsung LED TV to
drive growth in the Indian market. The company is planning to launch a wide portfolio of such products in 2009 in its audio-visual categories like TV, camera and home theatre.

Samsung expects such HD and new tech products to account for 50% of its revenues in the audiovisual segment in 2009 compared with some 30% in 2008. In categories like LCD, it expects the HD TVs will constitute around 45% of total sales volume up from 20% in 2008 and HD digital still cameras will account for over 10% of the total sales.

"The premium products have been growing at a phenomenal pace in India. For instance, the LCD TV market grew by over 150% last year. Given the strong response witnessed by these categories, we expect the market will sustain the demand in 2009 driven by products like LED TV. In some categories like Blu-ray, we are actually creating the market in India to take the first mover advantage," Samsung India deputy managing director R Zutshi told ET.

Samsung plans to create a new stand-alone TV category with its LED TV portfolio. LED TVs have superior picture quality and energy efficiency compared to other flat panel TVs like LCD and plasma; they consume 40% less power than standard LCD TVs, contain no mercury and are made of eco-friendly materials.

The company plans to introduce a line-up of LED TVs with 40-55-inch screens by May. It also aims to introduce a Blu-ray player at Rs 29,000 and Blu-ray home theatre at Rs 70,000 in the second half of 2009. It will roll out a full HD camcorder and a range of HD digital still cameras. "The products will be sold through premium multi-brand stores, retail chains as well as through our network of brand shops," he said.

We plan to aggressively expand our brand shops for retailing these products as well as set up LCD/LED display walls at key multibrand outlets.

source : Indiatimes.com