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| Edited By: |Source: Reuters |Updated: Mar 17, 2018, 02:28 AM IST
South Korea's LG Electronics Inc, the world's No. 2 TV brand, is looking for a double-digit percentage rise in TV revenues this year, the head of its home entertainment company said on Thursday.
LG aims to keep its market share lead over rival Sony Corp as it seeks to dampen price declines with upgraded specs and 3D TVs, Simon Kang told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
TV makers, including market leader Samsung Electronics Co and Sony and Panasonic Corp, are rushing to cut costs while seeking that sliver of differentiation that will help them charge more over the competition.
A strengthening won is also weakening pricing power at South Korean makers, while higher marketing and promotion costs threaten margins, analysts say.
"In the worst case scenario, (2010 unit sales) could be 22 million, in the best case, 29 million," said Kang, who added that exchange rate impact is not a concern. "There is more upside."
Tight supply will help keep price falls in check, with Kang preparing for a 15 to 20% drop this year in sector-wide TV prices. LG ran out of TV stock with a shortage of 1.5 million units in 2009, he said.
"(But) it will be tough. Sony and Panasonic will be very aggressive," Kang added.
LG has said it expects to sell 25 million LCD TVs in 2010 as it beefs up its lineup of wireless HD TVs with more Infinia brand LED-backlit TVs and 3D TVs and showcased a TV that was 6.9 millimeters thick. It has estimated sales of 17 million units in 2009.
Samsung, the world's biggest maker of flat-screen TVs, set a 30% sales growth target for its flat-screen TVs to 35 million TVs, as it seeks to keep its lead in the premium LCD TV segment using light emitting diodes (LED).
LG has set a modest group-wide 2010 global sales target of 59 trillion won ($52 billion), level with a 58.7 trillion won consensus forecast for 2009 sales from Thomson Reuters IBES.
"Since everyone is focusing on 3D TV, it will be very difficult to differentiate ourselves there," Kang noted.
Samsung and LG are the world's second- and third-biggest handset makers, trailing Nokia, but the Asian firms have been slow to win ground in smartphones, which is bracing for the impact of new entrants Google and Dell. LG depends more on handsets than Samsung.
