KUALA LUMPUR: Haier Electrical Appliances (M) Sdn Bhd, a trading arm for China’s Haier Group, is targeting to increase its sales by over 30% to about RM240mil this year.

Its managing director, Shi Zhiyuan said the brand achieved RM180mil in sales in 2017 and captured about 5% of Malaysia’s electrical appliances market.

“The consumer electronics market in Malaysia is very competitive for our brand compared to that of other countries in the region.

“Malaysia is a more developed country, and is more into Japanese brands as they entered the market much earlier than us. We have been in the Malaysian market for 15 years now,” he told reporters in conjunction with the launch of the first Haier Experience Centre here today.

Shi said basically, Haier Malaysia is more focused on trading as it is equipped with efficient logistics infrastructure.

It imports most of its products and distribute them via over 300 retail outlets in Malaysia, including major chain stores, he added.

He said Haier has a subcontracted television assembly plant in Port Klang, producing about 5,000 units a month for the local market, while other appliances are imported from other manufacturing plants in China, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand.

Asked whether the group will set up a manufacturing plant in Malaysia, he said it has no plans to do so in the near term as the products for the Malaysian market could be sourced from its plants in other Southeast Asian countries.

Shi said Haier is a global number one brand in a wide array of categories, including refrigeration, laundry and electric wine cellars, and has a wide range of innovative and quality products.

However, Haier market share for consumer electronics in Malaysia was still very small, hence, the need for the company to catch up with the strong Japanese and Korean brands as it eyed to secure the top three brands in the next five years.

In an effort to further penetrate the Malaysian market, Shi said the group was strategising its overseas trading companies to shift from the past, from offering basic and mid-level appliances to bringing in more middle to high-end products to the market.

To further expand its market share in Malaysia, he said Haier Malaysia plans to introduce kitchen appliances as its new product range this year.

Shi said the group has wide range and high quality products in this segment following its acquisition of GE Appliances in 2016, as well as New Zealand’s Fisher and Paykel Appliances Ltd in 2012.

For its business-to-business project, Haier Malaysia would also be introducing two new products, namely electrical heater and solar panels, he said.

The company also plans to market its products on the e-commerce platform in the country by the second half of this year to capitalise on its growing popularity, he said, adding that it is still looking for the right partners.

Credits - The Star Online