Chinese electronics maker coming

TCL Corp, China's second largest home appliance brand, has made the first move to enter the Taiwan market by selecting ET Internet Technology Corp (遠森網路科技) as its sole agent to sell its consumer electronics goods starting on Saturday, company officials said yesterday.

ET Internet Technology, an arm of Eastern Multimedia Corp (東森集團), plans to first put TCL's air conditioners for sale on the group's popular shopping network -- which includes television, broadcasting, catalogues and the Internet -- Randy Lee (李傳偉), vice president of Eastern Home Shopping Network (東森購物), said yesterday.

"We are optimistic about the cooperation, which combines their super-low-priced products and our powerful sales channels," Lee said.

Eastern Home Shopping Network has several thousand TCL air conditioners in stock and plans to sell them for between NT$14,000 and NT$25,000 each, Lee said.

The company said TCL's liquid-crystal display (LCD) televisions and mobile phones will hit the market later.

Local consumer electronics brands such as Sampo (聲寶) and Teco (東元) are facing increasing competition after Taiwan joined the World Trade Organization on Jan. 1, 2002, opening the domestic market to lower-priced imports.

But a Sampo official was unconcerned about competition from the cheap Chinese brand.

"I think local consumers still prefer high-quality Japanese, South Korean or locally made consumer electronics," Kanty Wu (吳錦芳), deputy spokesman of Sampo Corp, the nation's second-largest home-appliance maker, said yesterday.

As well as quantity, consumers now have higher awareness of product quality and after-sales service following reports of several explosions of televisions that were found to have been fitted with used picture tubes, Wu said.

"The low-price strategy may only impact local or foreign low-end brands," he said.

Wu also noted that the government still restricts Chinese electronics imports, which will restrain the volume of these products.

Hsieh Wei-hsiung (謝維雄), assistant vice manger of merchandise and marketing of E-Life Mall Co (全國電子), the nation's second-largest electronic retail chain, said Taiwanese consumers were still suspicious of Chinese brands even though Taiwanese homes are packed with made-in-China products.

Kolin (歌林), Teco and LG top E-Life's are the leading air conditioner brands, Hsieh said.

Local retailers are unlikely to introduce Chinese brands in the near future because of the lower-than expected margins after taxes, Hsieh said.

Lee, however, said Chinese-brand electronics makers have a great opportunity in Taiwan if they employ proper marketing strategies.

"Several years ago, local consumers scorned Korean home appliances, but they are now one of the best sellers in the market," Lee said.