Skyworth, china-based manufacturer of consumer electronics and durable products is aiming high to penetrate into retail industry with pan-India focus. The company already has done diffusion in the markets across South, and has also brought in the wide range of its LED televisions in Andhra Pradesh, and has done the sale of 25, 000 till now, as stated by A. Gopal Krishna, Head HR & Consultant to MD.

Under the franchise pact, the company has set up 100 service centers in south India. Besides, the company is running six company-owned service centers in major points. It is in the process of appointing distributors and expanding retail horizon.

The $4-billion Hong Kong stock exchange-listed company has six manufacturing facilities (four in China and one each in Brazil and Poland). It has priced its products “at least 20 per cent lesser than any comparable product available in the market, without any compromise on quality”. Attributing the ability to price at that levels to the economy of scale, Krishna said the company manufactures 15 million panel TVs a year in China (according to industry estimates, the size of the panel TV market in India is a little over 5 million units). “We are the market leader in China, followed by Hisense and TCL,” he said.
The company is in contract with Infinity Retail Pvt Ltd (Croma) of the Tatas under its in-house brand Croma to supply its manufactured panel TVs “Now, we are in talks to renew the contract.”

The company is having global tie-ups with some leading brands of Japanese and Korean.

“Globally, we are the 10th largest TV brand, and have strategic manufacturing and technology tie-ups with various Japanese and Korean brands in some markets,” he said. For example, it manufactures LCD panels in China jointly with LG Electronics. And, it has TV manufacturing tie-ups with Japanese brands Hitachi and Toshiba in Russia and Brazil respectively.

According to him, Skyworth is also one of the key suppliers of set-top boxes to Tata Sky, Sun Direct, Airtel and Hathway. It is also in technology tie-up with the mobile handset manufacturer Micromax.