By Craig Zammit
SYDNEY: Sanyo Oceania has ramped up its mass merchant retail offering including four new slimline LCD televisions, two mp3 players, a 42-inch plasma and digital set top box, as well as the PIVZ4 home theatre projector aimed at specialist retailers.
At the launch, Sanyo managing director for Australia and New Zealand, Bill Crichton, explained his commitment to the mass merchant channel.
“People are sick and tired of going into a store and having a brand pushed on them, only to find out later (the product) has a spiv or commission paid at the store front,” said Crichton.
“Regrettably in Australia that is something that has become rampant, especially in the electronics industry.” Crichton claimed that over 90 per cent of retailers in Australia operate with rebates, spivs or commissions, and said Sanyo will not take part in this.
“Using mass merchants allows us to be a premium brand within those stores, and it’s working well,” he said. “Our logic is to get the product from the factory to the shop floor as directly as we can, to make the product desirable but affordable for the consumer.”
Sanyo’s distribution approach is global, with Sanyo partnered with WalMart in the United States, Dixons and Tesco in the United Kingdom and the Warehouse Group in New Zealand. The new range is to be prominently displayed in all Kmart, Target, Big W, Myer, and Dick Smith stores.