Haier expanding brand presence in US market

January 16, 2014 Leave a comment

Haier expanding brand presence in US market

Staff Reporter

2014-01-15

China’s leading electrical appliance maker Haier Group has been trying to deepen its penetration into the US market because its brand name is not as well-known as its global counterparts in the country, Tencent’s financial news portal finance.qq.com reports.In its latest move, Haier was one of six global television suppliers to unveil their line of “flexible” televisions at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

Although public attention has been focused on the curved TVs of South Korea’s Samsung and LG, Chinese companies are leading the charge in rolling out new products, with Haier unveiling a super-thin curved display with the aim to earn a place in the battle of flexible TVs, the report said.

For Haier, CES was merely the starting point for a new revolution in the TV industry. “A revolution is quietly underway in the US localization of the Chinese firm,” said Shariff Kan, president and CEO of Haier America.

Haier placed an emphasis on showcasing its TV models at the CES this year, which ran from January 7-10, focusing on flexible TVs. The super-thin display measures 4 millimeters and adopts an organic light-emitting diode (OLED).

An executive in charge of television research at Haier America said that the model had been fully researched and developed by the Chinese company, indicating that Chinese vendors controlled the 4K and OLED technologies.

Haier America is headquartered on Broadway in Manhattan. Kan said that there are currently 180 employees working in its sales division and more than 200 workers in factories located in South Carolina. The local American workforce accounted for at least 80% of the total, which was different from the US branches of other Chinese companies.

Chinese companies usually hire Chinese nationals and only hire local Americans for frontline sales, an insider said.

The localization of employment has contributed to Haier becoming an authentic American company, Kan said, adding that its products were designed in Los Angeles, based on the needs of American consumers, and sold to channels across the United States through the New York headquarters.

“Our brand is reputable, but it is not as visible when compared with other foreign rivals, such as Samsung and LG,” Kan explained, adding that the South Korean brand entering the US market back in the 1970s and their level of localization was mature enough to integrate with American consumers’ habits.

Haier America makes up for about 20% of the entire group’s sales, making it the most important international branch for the Chinese firm, the report said.

Filed under Macro Trends

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