Canon all set to make big foray into retail

Canon India has chalked out aggressive retail initiatives for the coming
quarters to streng­then its position further in retail domain. According to the
company, its printers and cameras will hog the limelight in its retail plans.
The company is equally bullish on positioning itself as professional digital
camera manufacturer for which it has roped in fashion photographer Atul Kasbekar
as its brand ambassador.

As per Canon's new roadmap its range of printers, which previously were
largely driven in the market by traditional IT channels, will now get an equal
display opportunity in retail shop fronts.

Dhiren Kumar Singh, Assistant Director- Marketing, Consumer Imaging, Canon India

Commenting about Canon's retail initiatives Dhiren Kumar Singh, Assistant
Director-Marketing, Consumer Imaging, Canon India said, “As per the present
market scenarios IT is not confined to offices only, rather it has become
ubiquitous. Above that, the buying behavior of Indian consumers has undergone a
360 degree transformation, which calls for registering widespread retail
presence of a company if it desires to target mass market. Considering all these
market forces we have decided to lend retail touch to most of our products.”

To pursue its retail strategy Canon has already initiated 73 IT imaging
zones, the multi-brand retail outlets for Canon printers. And going by company's
announcement this number would be almost doubled up by June end. Singh opined,
“We expect Canon products will contribute to almost 60 percent towards the
retail shops revenue.” Singh informed that Canon anticipates instituting 300
imaging zones across the country by next year, wherein Canon would be funding
for the makeover of entire outlet excluding the space.

Apart from partner owned retail shops Canon is also targeting big retail
malls in top metro towns to make its presence felt in retail market. However,
Singh did not disclose any concrete figure about the kind of revenue the company
would be fuelling in to leverage on the benefits of retail market.

ANJALI CHAUDHARY