The three major battles of Tongzhou Electronics

At the end of 1999, Tongzhou turned its attention to overseas markets and achieved quite outstanding performance. The total value of exports in 1999 was US$600,000, US$6 million in 2000, US$12 million in 2001, and US$9 million in January-August 2002. After successfully opening the Indonesian and Indian markets, they aimed at the largest satellite receiver market - the Middle East. At present, the company is developing rapidly and is gradually becoming the largest equipment manufacturer in China's digital TV, satellite communications and other fields.

When answering why it has succeeded in different markets such as Indonesia, India and the Middle East, Gao Changling, Deputy General Manager of Tongzhou, did not hesitate too much. He believes that through analyzing different markets, formulating different marketing strategies and taking different actions according to the characteristics of different markets are the reasons for their success.

Indonesia: The repair center made contributions

It was a coincidence that Tongzhou entered the Indonesian market. In February 2000, the transmission of satellite TV channels in Indonesia was all changed from analog to digital. The original millions of users who used analog satellite receivers became "TV blind households" overnight. Indonesia is a populous country with a population of more than 200 million. The country is composed of more than 19,000 islands. There is very little cable TV, and it mainly relies on satellite TV transmission. The change of the satellite transmission system in Indonesia has brought business opportunities to the manufacturers of digital satellite receivers.

Indonesian importers were moved by the news and began to grab goods from South Korea, Taiwan Province of China and mainland China. In times of stress, producers in South Korea and Taiwan Province of China had to air freight to meet orders.

Tongzhou is the first Chinese digital satellite receiver manufacturer to land in Indonesia. In April 2000, Gao Changling, deputy general manager of Tongzhou, brought a trade team to Indonesia to visit customers and understand the market. They compared their products with those of South Korea and Taiwan Province of China, which occupied the main market positions at that time, and found that Tongzhou's products were almost on the same level as theirs in terms of quality and function, and could fully meet the needs of users, but The price is much cheaper. The price is about 30% lower than that of Korean products, and about 20% lower than that of products from Taiwan Province of China.

Gao Chang had a good idea. Things went as he expected. In 2000, Tongzhou sold 60,000 units in Indonesia, gaining a firm foothold in the Indonesian market.

During the sale, Gao Changling found that if the receiver had a faulty motherboard, it would need to be sent from Indonesia to China for repair, which would take two months and cost a courier fee. The courier fee can buy a motherboard, and the importer complains. And all satellite receiver suppliers, including South Korea and Taiwan Province of China, do not have a local maintenance point. Gao Changling realized that Tongzhou's opportunity had come.

At the beginning of 2001, Tongzhou Electronics established a maintenance center in Jakarta, which enabled Indonesian importers, distributors and consumers to truly enjoy the benefits of Tongzhou's services. Now the machine is out of order and fixed in 5-7 days, saving time and money.

With the establishment of the maintenance center, Tongzhou's product sales have also grown rapidly. In the past two years, more than 200,000 digital satellite receivers have been sold, ranking first in the market. Today, there is still only one Tongzhou company that has set up a maintenance center in Indonesia. Although products from other Chinese manufacturers with lower prices than Tongzhou products have been entering the Indonesian market since 2002, Tongzhou has steadily maintained the largest market share of 40% in Indonesia. To achieve such a result, Gao Changling said: "The repair center has contributed to it."

India: Coship brand name is ringing

In contrast to Indonesia, India is a big cable TV country. The Indian cable television network is small in scale, but large in number. There are about 40,000 large or small cable television operators in the country. India's demand for digital satellite receivers is mainly used as front-end equipment for cable television. For each additional TV channel, there are about 40,000 demand. At that time, the digital satellite receivers of South Korea and Taiwan Province of China were well-known in the Indian market.

In November 2000, Coship participated in the Satellite and Cable TV Exhibition held in Mumbai, and presented "Coship" brand products to Indian customers. Then in 2001 and 2002, a multinational maintenance service was held in India every year. In India's influential professional magazine "SATELLETE & CABLE", there is a monthly advertisement of the same continent products.

In order to adapt the product to the market needs, Tongzhou solved the polarizer settings and common language menu as soon as possible, and then developed the CDVB3000 series digital satellite receiver with independent intellectual property rights in line with international standards. Customers are interested in the automatic search function of this new model.

Gao Changling admits that there are many gaps between the CDVB3000 and the international advanced models. "However, its cost performance has won the market's recognition." Gao Changling said.

"Developing partners in India is very different from developing partners in Indonesia." Gao Changling said, "In Indonesia, 80-90% of electronic product trade is controlled by local Chinese, who understand China These importers prefer to make their own brands, so Tongzhou products enter Indonesia through 6 major Indonesian distributors, each under 6 different brands."

In In India, it is different. Tongzhou has entrusted two more powerful agents, and the brand they operate is "Coship". Gao Changling said: "We have not established a maintenance center in India, but trained our agents to have their own maintenance capabilities, and at the same time recommended some maintenance equipment and instruments."

After more than 3 years in the market Cultivation and operation, the current Korean products have been withdrawn from India, and the products of Taiwan Province of China are also facing sales difficulties. From 1999 to August 2002, Tongzhou sold nearly 100,000 products in India, which is the largest number of similar products sold to India.

The Middle East: Meeting Individual Needs

The Middle East is the place where the world's digital receiver manufacturers compete. There are more than a dozen communication satellites over the Middle East, simultaneously transmitting thousands of TV programs. Some well-known set-top box manufacturers in Europe, South Korea, and Taiwan Province of China always put the latest models in the Middle East first, such as 4,000 storage channels, OSDs in more than 9 languages, and DISEQC1.2 and even 2.0 functions. be fashionable.

In 2000, Tongzhou sold its CDVB3000 series model based on Fujitsu's solution in the Middle East, but closed the door because this model could no longer satisfy the preferences of discerning Arab customers. Gao Changling said: "In 2001, we didn't make the product into the product, mainly because our product function was far behind the leading Korean products."

In the second half of 2001, Tongzhou began to develop ST platform-based set-top box. When the CDVB2300 prototype based on the ST5518 solution was sent to the Middle East for import testing, the product was finally approved. At present, Tongzhou has signed contracts with 3 Middle East customers and sold 20,000 units. Although the number is not large, Gao Changling believes that from the current business situation he has mastered, this model can have good sales prospects in the Middle East.