Dubai – “CPEC can bring benefits to Pakistan and increase the purchasing power of the consumers in that country, however we have not done the in-depth analysis of this benefits of it as of yet,” Panasonic Marketing Middle East & Africa Managing Director Hiroki Soejima gave an exclusive interview to Daily Pakistan on the sidelines of Panasonic’s annual strategy press conference here in Dubai.
In an exclusive one-on-one interview with the managing director, he shed lights on the latest Panasonic products and what it means for the middle east market.
Which is Panasonic’s biggest market in the Middle East? Is Pakistan an important market for Panasonic?
The biggest market in ME for Panasonic is currently Saudi Arabia, Pakistan is at number 2 or number 3 usually, of course Pakistan is a very important market for us and remains one of the top priorities for us in the Middle East. We think that as the purchasing power of Pakistani consumers increases, it will keep being important for us.
As Chinese products enter Pakistani market, do you think Panasonic’s share will decline?
Panasonic builds high-quality or “Japan Quality” products for its top-of-the-line consumers, we think that there will always be a market for these high quality products. We do not want to actually compete with Chinese products or the cheaper low-end products, the quality of our products is unmatched and there will always be a market for these products.
Panasonic slogan is ‘A better life a better world’ – but how are you creating a better world?
Panasonic strives to create high-quality products for its consumer, especially in the Middle East where we strive the create products tailored to this market. In the Middle East we understand that air purifiers and water dispensers are key products, that is why for the first time we are introducing water dispensers in this market.
Is Panasonic developing products that use latest Artificial Intelligence technology as is the trend in tech these days?
Definitely, Panasonic is striving to create the products using cutting edge and latest technology and we have introduced a lot of these products in our home market in Japan.
What is bettertopia and what do you envision the world future, and the future of cities in particular, in the next 100 years? How does it fit in with Panasonic’s vision?
Panasonic has a strong vision for cities of the future and our role in them. We are doing a lot of research, but currently those is for the developed markets. Slowly we will introduce those solutions to the developing countries like the Middle Eastern countries and include them in our vision.
What is Panasonic doing to make the best use IoT (Intrenet of Things) technology which is being hailed as future of consumer electronics?
Definitely, Panasonic is building exciting products using these latest technologies. These are currently in testing phase in in the home market, Japan. As the Middle East consumers become more tech savvy and more receptive to these products, we will introduce them to this market also.
Do you have products developed/launched exclusively for the Pakistani market?
No we have not yet developed something exclusively for Pakistan yet, but we do continue to make high quality products for the whole of Middle East region and Pakistan is an important component of it.
