Epson Philippines expects to double its sales to hit P3 billion by 2012, according to Senior General Manager Eduardo Bonoan.

Recognized worldwide as the leading brand in digital image innovations, Epson’s business is composed of four major groups: Imaging on Paper (printers and other imaging products), Imaging on Screen (office and home multimedia projectors, and other visual imaging equipment), Imaging on Support Devices (displays, semiconductors, optical devices, quarts devices, mechatronics) and Imaging on Glass (mobile displays).

Despite the global crisis, the Philippines was not hit as hard as the US, he noted. “The local market is healthy and continues to grow. We are doing quite well in printer sales, which correspond to the growth in Personal Computers. We project demand for printers to continue. In fact, we expect printer sales to increase by 15 percent for 2009, to 455,000 units.”

Epson Philippines ranks fourth in the region. India is at the top of the list, followed by Indonesia and Thailand. Overall, Epson employs more than 70,000 employees in 108 companies around the world. Led by the Japan-based Seiko Epson Corp., the Group had consolidated sales of US$11.4 billion in fiscal 2008.

Already, the Epson Phils. Senior GM, who has been working in the company for a year and four months now, implemented a major management overhaul of 3 divisions: Sales and marketing, customer service and back office.

In that time span, the size of the company has also doubled from over 40 people to around 100 to date. The new SGM zeroed in on corporate sales, among other things. “Our old focus is loading on distribution and retail with no clear follow-through. We were over dependent on distributors. My first priority was to build corporate and marketing sales,” Bonoan explained.

Furthermore, “We have 8 distributors and over 200 resellers. When we sell the stocks, the relationship doesn’t end there. Epson is a combination of good product and relationship with our partners. We help them. We don’t leave them alone to sell by themselves.

We offer assistance in all tiers of the supply chain.”

In addition, Epson hired a pool of business development officers to take care of its top 500 corporate clients. “We want to have a direct relationship with the accounts, make clients aware of brands and products.”

The biggest challenge for Epson Philippines at present is geographical expansion, Bonoan revealed. Although the company’s forte is retail and it has a nationwide presence, it has not tapped the corporate provincial market yet.

“In Manila, resellers and retail are distinct. You have strict corporate sellers like Octagon and Silicon Valley,” he pointed out. “In the provinces, the way they conduct business is different.

They have storefronts but don’t do corporate accounts. Hybrid dealers and business models are the rule.”