Understanding and Influencing Consumer Behaviour: New Challenges for Brother in Driving Growth in 2021
"Despite the challenges of Covid-19 pandemic last year, Brother was able to increase revenue growth from the year 2020 by adjusting its business strategy to deal with the rapidly change of the situation." Mr. Teerawut Supapunpinyo, Managing Director of Brother Commercial (Thailand) Limited said about the business adjustment which infrequently made in the normal situation. "Apart from the strategy of 3Cs which focuses on Customer, Channel, and Company, Brother has incorporated the workstyle of Speed and Resilience into the company's work culture to improve readiness and flexibility at work, as well as customer satisfaction in line with a rapid change in market dynamics, in which a customer-focused strategy is implemented."
Through learning and striving for business adjustment, Brother has overcome crisis and successfully generated growth last year.
"Today Brother does not merely focus on product selling, but it has shifted its business principles to the development of new occupation which helps generate income and strengthens the existing occupation of the current customers. The strategy enables Brother to be still enjoying growth in spite of the global crisis. The main focus product like printers has increasing the growth due to the business remodeling of work from home, or work from anywhere, resulting in higher demands for compact printers which are suitable for home working environment. In addition, the rise of online learning and the unanticipated growth of small businesses has continuously boosted market expansion throughout the year," said Mr. Teerawut Supapunpinyo. "Home sewing machines are another high-demand products. However, we saw the 30% growth of the GTX Garment Printer as well as BMB Karaoke System also expanded the new business. This is another challenging step that Brother is determined to develop for new opportunities."
The Covid-19 has created new demands. For the year 2021, it is expected that printers will see the total sales as many as those of the last year.
"In 2021 the printer market is anticipated to grow in all segments. Another product which created significant growth is sewing machines of which the total sales increased around 20% in fiscal year 2020. The growth rate continued to grow as a result of the rise of relevant products from facemasks to DIY items. Brother will focus chiefly on income generating products and educate the customers on how to conduct business by using Brother products, as well as give them support in terms of business ideas to ease the unemployment problem caused by the Covid-19. In 2021 Brother will emphasize the growth building both in personal use and business use."
Expanding Business Opportunities, Developing Readiness of Sales Team
Increasing Product Potential and Providing Solutions to Stay by Customers' Side in All Situations
Mr. Na-ake Songsiri, Deputy General Manager of Sales and Marketing, Brother Commercial (Thailand) Limited revealed the plan of Brother's strategies development for the fiscal year 2021 that Brother has developed three pillars of the business strategies including:
- Expansion which aims to expand its business with three tactics comprising 1) Expanding and Penetrating to B2B for further success by focusing on the healthcare, retail, logistic and finance sectors 2) Expansion into New Markets by presenting the benefits of Brother products which expected the growth of customers' business, for example, education business that evolved a new form of learning which requires more education facilities and 3) Tailor Made Solution which enables customers to select the business model that optimize their business needs
- Development which will focus on three areas including 1) Increasing business opportunities by expanding sales channels which stresses on providing knowledge in e-commerce business development and managing offline and online sales channels in each market effectively 2) Turning product potential into new solutions and introducing them to market such as Trackmo, an asset management system developed by Brother to increase capacity of P-Touch to work far beyond a sticker printer 3) The development of customized service model - currently Brother has brought the concept of Brother One into use to understand the true needs of customers and thus deliver the services that satisfy their needs accordingly.
- Communication Brother aims to increase potential in communication starting from 1) Appropriate communication with different groups of target audience We are expecting that creative content will communicate more effectively to each group. 2) Showing the readiness of Brother for delivering services according to their needs and 3) Continuously prioritizing importance on customer voice by following the philosophy 'At Your Side' to improve the services and solutions to satisfy the customers' needs. We are convinced that these three pillars will be able to generate growth to business.
Number ONE in Service, and Enhancing Growth with Innovation
Last year, although Brother experienced the Covid-19 situation, its service teams were able to successfully deliver the quality service to their customers. This is because the work from home policy was developed. In addition, apart from Brother Contact Center has became more popular, Live Chat was added into service, enabling the service team to promptly respond to the customers' questions, which exceeds their expectation. "Brother Chatbot was developed to use the Thai language with accuracy in order to be the first touchpoint for customers. In case of more complicated questions, the system will transfer their call or request to Brother Contact Center immediately. In future, Brother aims to put more importance to the number of contacts through Chat and Chatbot, as it is more easily accessible, with faster and more convenient services. Also, it supports more diverse forms of data including messages, images and video links effectively. We believe that chat ratio will increase up to the target after the customers being informed. Latest, Brother was certified the Gold Level of SQI from Service Quality Instiution. The success will be transferred to other Brother service centers where the service quality will further be improved to the Platinum level in 2021. Aside from maintaining the service quality standards, database will be used to develop innovation for the benefits of the cutomers to ensure that they are aware of the services provided above standards. Moreover, we will maintain relationship with customers with regular visits to collect information beneficial to develop the service in the future," said Mr. Worrasak Praditkul, General Manager of Customer Service, Brother Commercial (Thailand) Limited.
2021 Brother upgrades the service quality and develops new services to match today's lifestyles
Brother is confident that the efficiency of service quality will be able to support business expansion through more than 141 service centers along with the sophisticated technology system. Also, the monthly skill development scheme enables Brother to be ready to support growth of the company with high potential. "Brother has developed new service products to satisfy the customers' needs during the implementation of social distancing measures, for example, the much praised Brother Care Express, which the service team will collect the items requested for repair and deliver when the repair has been finished in order to reduce the risk during the Covid-19. Brother Care Pack, an extension of the after-sale services to suit the needs of the customers. These services increase confidence among our customers both from corporate customers and retail customers, which is in the proportion of 80% and 20% respectively, and the trend is going upward. In 2021, we will facilitate our customers with delivery service," said Ms Rassiyakorn Tanthavanich, Deputy General Manager of Customer Service, Brother Commercial (Thailand) Limited.
"Furthermore, Brother moved forward to develop a Chatbot for the 24-hour service. The chatbot is bilingual—Thai and English—and can be interfaced with social media to support customers of all lifestyles and all channels such as answering a phone call, replying an e-mail and chat." Said Ms Rassiyakorn Tanthavanich.
"Besides, after-sale services in a variety of areas will be added according to the customers' needs, for example, Manage Print Service—MPS, programmes offered to manage printing devices by monitoring usage and replacing consumables (Toner), and other lines of products such as BMB Karaoke System and GTX Garment Printer. Also, the company aims to continue to support 'The Academic Cooperation Program' which the year 2021 will be the fourth year of the program. The program involves the development of working skills such as giving a training on how to repair printing devices among the participant youth, particularly vocational school students," added Ms Rassiyakorn Tanthavanich.
The Remodeling of the Charity Running Event "Brother Beat Cancer Run"
"In the past seven years, Brother has organized the running event "Brother Beat Cancer Run" to raise money for disadvantaged cancer patients in the Adult Hematologic Malignancy Fund, Ramathibodi Hospital, under the Royal Patronage of HRH Maha Chakri Sirindhorn. The proceeds has helped 428 patients and 3 cases of Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation," said Mr. Pornpuck Upaisilsataporn, General Manager of Finance and Administration, Brother Commercial (Thailand) Limited. "Currently the patients who were given support by our fund joined the activity, confirming that the program is truly beneficial to the patients and we can successfully raise awareness among the general pubic to offer help to those who are in need."
Brother (Thailand) obtained the Environment Award 2020 on the project of Brother Volunteer Conservation and Reforestation of Mangrove Forest which has been practiced for 11 consecutive years from the headquarters in Japan. Furthermore, Brother Thailand had applied for Green Office Certificate which in FY2020 the Silver Award has been obtained; However, it plans to up the level at Gold Award for the next step within FY2021. "Brother have done for long to help building-up both social and environment consciousness to the associates. It is currently preparing to be a Green Office through a change in behavior of its staff members in the office by reducing energy consumption and initiating the environmentally-friendly activities such as waste reduction and pursuing sustainable living following to the principle of reduce, reuse, recycle and reduce the use of hazardous chemicals, as well as maintaining eco-friendly procurement which will contribute to the reduction of releasing Green House Gases (GHG) in all sectors including supply chain and consumption. The practices will finally lead to sustainable production and consumption," said Mr. Pornpuck Upaisilsataporn, General Manager of Finance and Administration. "Regarding the promotion of public consciousness, Brother has encouraged its employees to propose a variety of social responsibility programs, and if they are approved, the company will provide financial support so that the program will be implemented."
Source: 4D Communications