TCL Electronics has set its sights on becoming No.1 in the electrical appliance market in Thailand within 5 years after finding that its market share of leading product groups had grown higher than the market. Most recently, its market share for air conditioners was highest at 14.3%, while its TV sales growth lead the market. Now it is ready to promote other products along with refrigerators and washing machines.
Managing Director of TCL Electronics (Thailand) Co., Ltd. or TCL, Johnny Yi, said that 2024 will be a year of great change for TCL by driving under the concept: “TCL Time to Go Big,” pushing TCL towards the goal of becoming a well-known electrical appliance brand in the Thai market, offering good products and service experiences to Thai consumers. The goal is to become the Top 2 within 3 years and to become the Top 1 within 5 years. However, TCL’s challenging goals this time are set according to the actual brand growth direction.
If we consider the growth in the market share of TCL products in the past, it will be found that there are many main TCL electrical appliance product groups, growing more than the overall market for electrical appliances. Not only that, within this year TCL will create a new phenomenon by launching “Product Highlights” with appliances in 4 consumer electronic segments and will expand its business to launch new products in the IT group, he said
This will be two Hi-End Gaming Monitors, divided into 27” 4K, and a 34” Mini LED Gaming monitor with an UltraWide Screen, which is a new innovation product, being the latest monitor technology in the market. This reinforces the fact that TCL is a world-class brand in image technology and this year TCL will have new product groups, being Commercial Display Products at the end of the year along with commercial air conditioners, the TCL (Thailand) Managing Director added.
Chaloemchai Rattanaaem, Business Director of TCL, said that TCL’s business strategy this year aims for it to be a leader in technology and innovation in the Thai home appliance market by expanding the product portfolio and developing technology and providing a superior experience to customers. “We have a goal to increase TV sales within three years to become No. 2 and within 5 years to become the Top 1 in the market. As for electrical appliances, the refrigerator group and washing machines, we aim to be in the Top 5 in 3 years in 5 years to be in the Top 3. For the air conditioner group, we aim to be in the Top 3 in three years and within 5 years we will rise to be No.1,” he said.
In 2024, there will be an important highlight worth keeping an eye on: the launch of four TCL products hitting the market in Thailand. These will be Innovation TV with a 115-inch Big Screen, the world’s largest QD-MiniLED TV, along with electric appliances, being FreshIN 2.0 Innovation air conditioning products to meet the needs of health lovers. and home electrical appliances, being Free Built-In refrigerators, washing machines and dryers that emphasize design.
For TV products: TCL will focus on pushing more Big Screen TV products to respond to changing consumer behavior. It will focus on the Mini LED and QD groups. The largest TCL TVs on the market right now are the 115-inch TV model 115X955 Max QD MiniLED, and the TV Gaming series C747, which is the most advanced technology in TVs at this time. TCL has developed the picture to be realistic and sharp with the latest image processing chip AIPQ 3.0 supporting Dolby vision and Dolby Atmos and TV QD model C655 with Sub Woofer Built-In from ONKYO provides powerful sound including a modern design that fits perfectly with home decoration at a reasonable price.
In the first quarter of this year, the market direction this year compared to 2023 has decreased by approximately 10%, but contrary to the market trend TCL is still maintaining good numbers with a growth of 10% and TCL products in the QLED, MiniLED Trend market have now grown by 13% and TCL has grown from last year by 60% and is now the Top 2 in the market and in The Big Size category TCL’s product segment grew by 118%.
TCL’s customer segment for Big Size products has increased continuously since the third quarter of 2023, when TCL started adding a “LineUp Big Size” to increase its share in the Mid to High market segment and to continue increasing sales this year, TCL has implemented its “5791” plan with the TOP Focus now being 5 which is a 55-inch TV that is a Hero SKU 1 model / 7 which is a 70-inch TV that is a Hero SKU 1 model and Focus is a 75-inch all model (All model) / 9 is The new 98-inch QD Mini LED TV, while 1 is the 115-inch TV model 115X955Max (flagship model Special Promotion “All Big Premium Gift”). And it will also push exclusive products such as the 55-inch, 65-inch TV model C747 into the TV gaming market at a special price.
Based on all these plans, TCL also expects the market to grow by around 20% this year during the Football Euro Period and during the Olympic Games. With the plans and goals TCL has set, the company will increase sales this year by approximately 30% and will take more share from competing brands.
As for air conditioning products, TCL has launched the Innovation Product of the Year, being the TCL FreshIN 2.0 Series that will help drive sales among premium customers who love health and who raise animals. TCL has added a function to exchange air from outside with an air filtration system inside. After its previous launch, it received good feedback from customers. In addition, there are other technologies in the T-Pro Premium air conditioner group, such as Function UVC and Ion (+)(-), including the highest energy saving number 5, at the 5-star level.
Finally, “Product HA” or electrical home appliances include refrigerators and washing machines. This year, TCL has added a product that is a Free Built-In refrigerator model that is a “Hi light” to meet the needs of home design to look perfect and modern. And in the third quarter, there will be new models of washing machines and dryers that focus more on design. The screen is a color screen with a touch screen system.
In terms of distribution channels to expand the market, TCL focuses on stores and modern trade that have the potential to push Hi-end products. However, it also supports customers in the Mid to Low product range in order to increase its market share.
Geerachai Saksangawong, Sales Director – Air Conditioners, said that Air conditioner market in the first quarter of 2024 grew by 21.4% by unit and 20.7% by value, while TCL grew 144.2% by unit and had a market share as of March 2024 of 14.3% by unit, which was No. 1 and had continued to be for seven consecutive months in a row from September 2023.
Looking at the 12 months from 1 March 2023 to 31 March 2024, it will be found that TCL air conditioners have gained market share to be No.1 with a market share of 12.7%, and this is the first time that TCL air conditioners have reached No.1 after more than 10 years in the market in Thailand.
The key factor that contributed to TCL’s rapid success came from the realignment of its product strategy by adding new features and functions such as Smart WIFI, Gentle cool wind and 3 easy designs to meet the needs of customers who want convenience. “And we have also increased product quality assurance from 1 year and 5 years for the compressor to a 5-year warranty, free of charge for everything (labor, spare parts, travel expenses) and a 10-year compressor warranty to confirm the quality of TCL’s products. And, in the first quarter of 2024, we have presented the latest innovation in the T-Pros group with the highest energy saving, number 5, 5-star level (T-Pros10), number 5 level 4 stars (T-Pros13) and number 5 level 3 stars (T-Pros19 and T-Pros25) and consumers can check the amount of electricity used each day in the TCL Home app and also increase UVC functions and Ion (+)(-) for healthcare,” Geerachai said.
Ekachai Chuensirikulchai, TCL Sales Director – Refrigerator and Washing Machine, revealed that TCL had begun to become a leader in not only the aforementioned product groups. Refrigerators and washing machines are another product group where TCL sees opportunities for growth and will develop products in this category to become popular products. In the first quarter of this year, the refrigerator segment grew by as much as 12%, which is considered the highest growth in the past several years. Due to the extremely hot weather the Side by Side refrigerator type had the highest growth rate of up to 50%, followed by 4-door refrigerators which grew by 20%.
The growth of these types of products reflects consumer demand for refrigerators with larger capacity. This is in line with TCL’s strategy for this year as well. TCL launched Side by Side refrigerators, each with a large 22.3 cu. ft. capacity, offering 3 models and 3 designs at the end of last year. This year, we have plans to upgrade the lineup with more 4-door refrigerator products. TCL is promoting a new technology called “Free Built-In”. This is a new cooling technology at the bottom of the refrigerator that can be built in perfectly, with a space between the edges of the refrigerator of less than 4 mm. This will enhance kitchens to be more luxurious as well as using Metal Cooling technology and a T-Fresh odor removal system that will help cool food efficiently, keep it fresh for a long time and to be free from food odors inside the refrigerator. It will be available for sale in 3 sizes: 521 liters, 470 liters and 430 liters from July onwards.
As for washing machines, in the first quarter of this year, the market has remained stable from last year. Each type of washing machine grew only slightly, except for washers & dryers which grew by up to 39% in the first quarter, and this year TCL will focus on this type of washing machine as well. This is because in 2023 it launched washers & dryers for the first time in the second quarter and was able to make sales that greatly exceeded expectations and in the first quarter of this year, TCL washing machines (washers & dryers) had a market share of up to 20% and comparing model to model, TCL have the number 1 sales rate right now. This year TCL will upgrade its product line-up, including various functions and designs to be more consistent with consumer needs with a target being a market share of over 30% in 2024. The new TCL washers and dryers will be ready for sale from June onwards.
Don Tang, Marketing Director, said “Our marketing strategy this year is channel-oriented, product-oriented, customer-oriented and partner-oriented to promote branding and to increase sales.”
The marketing plan for 2024 will be driven under the concept of “Time to Go Big”, which TCL has elevated its image to the level of Global Top leading brand in the Thai market. This year, we also have Pong-Nawat Kulrattanarak as a presenter of TCL for the second year, he said.
Recently, TCL’s new television commercial (TVC) was launched under the concept: Time to go big, showcasing TCL’s latest technology products, focusing on building greater TCL brand awareness through TV, out-of-home media such as BTS and online media including storefront media, expanding brand awareness by increasing investment in various online media channels, collaborating with famous influencers (KOLs) to promote products continuously.
For our Sport Marketing strategy, we continuously organize marketing campaign activities throughout the country at our stores and over online channels to attract consumers. During the global football and sports tournaments that will take place in June-August 2024, we have organized a special campaign event called “TCL Champion Leads” for customers who purchase participating TCL products to have a chance to be lucky winners to join a party with Pong-Nawat Kulrattanarak, to get a chance to win gold prizes and TCL electrical appliances, as well as participating in doing CSR with us.
“We have already invested more than 800 million baht in marketing. This includes offline and online media, including in-store and online channel promotional activities, as well as cooperation with business partners through online channels, leading department stores, and TCL dealers throughout the country,” Tang concluded.
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