Canon Marketing  (Thailand) expects to lead the Kingdom's digital camera market next year after setting aside a marketing budget of Bt100 million to promote seven recently launched products.

At present, Japan-based Canon is ranked second in digital camera sales in Thailand with a market share of 15-16 per cent and sales of 800,000 units recorded so far this year. Sony is the leader with a 20-per-cent market share.

The company's director and general manager, Warin Tantipongpanich, said Canon had succeeded in boosting its market share from 10 per cent last year to 15-16 per cent this year.

"We launched products with new technology that meet our customers' demands and used aggressive marketing campaigns to promote our products, resulting in more people deciding to buy them," he said.

The company has launched seven digital cameras since the start of September. Three of the cameras belong to Canon's IXUS range and four to its Power Shot range.

The company has also launched two camcorders and two computer printers in the same period.

"We expect our sales from imaging products, including digital cameras, camcorders and printers, to reach Bt600 million in the last three months of this year thanks to the Bt100-million marketing bud-get we will spend on promoting them during that time," Warin said.

The company also plans to establish "Canon Shops" by working with retailers to redesign their stores according to a company plan.

The shops will focus on Canon products and will offer services such as teaching customers how to use any products they purchase. The company has set aside a renovation budget of Bt5 million per store and plans to open 10 Canon Shops next year, and 50 by the year 2010.

At present, 75 per cent of Canon Marketing (Thailand) sales come from imaging products with the rest being made up from products such as copiers and scanners.

The company announced sales worth Bt3.3 billion last year, a figure it expects to increase by 30 per cent to Bt4.3 billion this year.

Somluck Srimalee

The Nation