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The company has seen a purchasing slowdown by retail customers, due to the recent steep rises in the cost of living and economic uncertainty. It expects sales to corporate customers to increase gradually from 20 per cent to 30 per cent but not necessarily this year, said Soontorn Pantaramongkon, senior director and general manager for Canon's Business Imaging Solution (BIS) Group.

"Inflation has already surpassed 7 per cent, which is higher than the country's expected gross domestic product growth of 5 per cent for this year. The steep rise has significantly affected retail sales, because the items we sell [digital cameras and printers] are considered unnecessary. Our products for corporate customers [fax machines, scanners, copiers and large-format printers] are considered necessary office equipment. This equipment is classed as assets rather than expenditures," Soontorn said.

In addition, companies, especially large ones, usually set their purchasing plans a year in advance and usually do not change them, unlike retail customers or small and medium-sized companies, which may change according to their circumstances.

To stimulate corporate sales, Canon is spending Bt120 million on a marketing campaign called "Canon CEO: The Heart of Tomorrow's Office" to help meet this year's 20-per-cent target for sales growth of Bt1.2 billion.

The campaign is aimed at highlighting its equipment solutions for improving office efficiency. Nok Air CEO Patee Sarasin and television personality John Rattanaveroj are the presenters.

The BIS Group also plans to appoint 41 more dealers to sell Canon products.

Soontorn said sales in this first half of the year have been 30-per-cent higher year on year so far, although it did not run a specific marketing campaign.

Focusing on the photocopier market, Canon is in third place with a 19-per-cent market share, behind the market leader at 20.9 per cent and the No-2 firm at 19.6 per cent.

Soontorn said Canon's sales target for the full year was Bt6.3 billion.