Panasonic Australia managing director, Paul Reid has explained how the business is evolving into a ‘category specialist’ brand, following the decision to withdraw from the local TV market earlier this year, in a recent video interview with Appliance Retailer.
“The decision we took earlier this year to exit the TV market in Australia was a very difficult one,” he said.
“It was by no means an easy decision but I think it demonstrated that Panasonic won’t hesitate to make those tough decisions to step away from highly commoditised categories if we don’t think the future market dynamics are favourable.
“Panasonic is evolving from what I would call a ‘generalist’ brand – a brand that has products across the broadest possible range of categories – to what I would call a ‘category specialist’ brand. We want to focus our energy on categories and products where Panasonic can demonstrate meaningful value propositions and offer tangible points of difference.
“Some examples of that might be our air conditioning products with Active Air purification technology and touchless control, our market leading flatbed inverter microwave ovens, our haircare products with built-in technology that can reduce hair damage, our Technics premium audio range which offer truly uncompromising sound whether it be digital or analogue, and our Lumix full frame mirrorless cameras with industry-leading performance.
“Panasonic is evolving its consumer electronics business into one with a goal of supporting wellbeing and we think we can do that by offering solutions in air quality, cooking, personal care, entertainment and the living environment. The term wellbeing is something you will hear a lot more from Panasonic and we plan to launch more products in categories around the theme of wellbeing in the months and years to come.”