Toto eyeing top 3 spot in sanitary-ware segment
TOTO LTD, a Japan-based manufacturer for sanitary ware and fitting products, has set a strategy to improve its rankings in Thailand’s sanitary-ware market from the fifth spot at present to the top three by 2020. It also aims to focus on boasting growth in
The growth strategy is based on Toto’s forecast of the company enjoying sustainable growth in those three developing markets, driven by strong domestic consumption and the expansion their economies.
Hiroyuki Suzuki, president of Toto (Thailand) Co, said that under the 2020 strategy the Thai subsidiary aimed to double its business domestically both in terms of sales and market share.
“Since the beginning of this year, we have extended our product line-up from only the super-premium segment to the upper-medium segment, allowing a greater number of potential customers to afford our Toto products,” he said.
“With such a product expansion, we aim to increase our domestic sales by between 20 and 25 per cent every year” until 2020.
He added that the retail prices of sanitary-ware products in the upper-medium segment started from Bt4,000 a piece, while super-luxury-product prices were between Bt100,000 and Bt400,000.
Toto’s current share of the Thai sanitary-ware market is 10 per cent. Its rivals Cotto and American Standard lead the market with significant shares.
Toto (Thailand) was established on November 27, 2009, with a factory at Hemaraj Saraburi Industrial Land in Nong Khae district, Saraburi.
The Bt1.6-billion factory produces two categories of Toto products: sanitary wares, including toilets and ceramic items, with annual capacity of 500,000 units per year; and sanitary fittings, including faucets, with a capacity of 115,000 units per year.
Suzuki said the company exported 70 per cent of its products, with most going to Japan (60 per cent), followed by the United States (10 per cent), Europe (10 per cent) and other destinations in Asia.
“With our 2020 plan, we want to emphasise more on the domestic market. We aim to significantly increase the ratio of our sales domestically [compared with exports] from currently only 30 per cent to 80 per cent by 2020,” he said.
The Toto group posted total sales in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2016, of 567,889 million yen (Bt194.2 million), up 4.3 per cent over the previous year.
The group operates 29 manufacturing facilities in 18 countries and territories, including Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, mainland China, Taiwan and India.
