DESPITE not making it to the top 5 of International Data Corp.’s (IDC) leading smartphone brands, Acer Philippines Inc. remains unfazed because market leadership can be achieved on a gradual basis.
In a recent interview, Sue Ong-Lim, sales and marketing director of Acer Philippines, said the Taiwanese technology heavyweight has proven in the Philippine market that making a quick run for leadership does not suit their style.
“It’s actually Acer’s long-term strategy not to grab market share at the onset as part of our road map,” Ong-Lim told the BusinessMirror. She recalled that the company founded by technology genius Stan Shih has dominated the local laptop market for 10 consecutive years.
“In 2015 Acer Philippines celebrated its 10 year in the Philippines, which was also doubly significant because we were the market leader in laptops in the same period.”
According to her, Acer had more than 30 percent market on a per quarter basis.
As far as the smartphone market is concerned, she said Acer’s entry already had a big push because “Acer is already a household name.”
“The introduction was not actually a launch but to tell people that Acer entered the smartphone market,” Lim said. “Tapping celebrity Toni Gonzaga as brand ambassador was to give a face to the brand.”
Just like the other Acer products, Ong said Acer smartphones are just not known only for its affordability but also quality, user-friendly and after-sales service.
“More important, the brand equity is always present,” she said. “We also retained the value-for-money proposition that has been attached to Acer.”
She said Acer has made strides in the smartphone segment as it went from 0 percent to 3 percent after its entry into the market. “Slowly but surely we would be the market leader in the long term.”
Of the total 101.4 million smartphone shipments in Southeast Asia last year, 21.5 percent was cornered by Samsung brand. Other brands where Acer may belong had more than half of the market share at 53.5 percent or 54.4 million, according to IDC data. The Philippines is the third-largest market, accounting for 14 percent of the total Sea market, IDC said. Indonesia remains the largest market, accounting for nearly 29 percent, followed by Thailand at 22 percent.
Lim said the Philippines has to consider several factors before it can become a leader in smartphone shipment volume in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) region.
The country, however, cannot compete with the size of Indonesia’s more than 250 million population, she explained.
While Thailand has a smaller population compared to the Philippines, Bangkok has a better quality of infrastructure than Manila, which particularly is slow internet connectivity, according to Lim.