Takeyushi SATO (left in the pic) and Dattatraya Joshi, Managing Director and Vice President, respectively, of Hitachi Koki India, a subsidiary of Hitachi Koki Japan, were in Nepal to officially launch their products – the Hitachi power equipments through Kathmandu Power Solutions (KPS). Excerpts from a joint interview: 

How is Hitachi Koki doing in India?

Dattatraya Joshi: It was set up in 1996 and it has its headquarters in Bangalore.  We are into marketing of power tools in India where we have seven branches. We have an assembly facility in Bangalore. We also import finished products of Hitachi from Japan, Malaysia, China and other places.

How do you view the market of electronics in Nepal?

Joshi: Before appointing KPS as our distributer, we have had a small survey on the market in Nepal. Since we have studied this market carefully, we have understood the opportunities here. We know the competitors, their strengths, strategies and weaknesses. Certainly, we are very confident about having a reasonable market share in Nepal in the coming months.

What are the features of your products?

Takeyushi SATO: Our products are basically power equipments like mechanised drillers, cutters and screw drivers. Joshi will tell more on it. Joshi: Our products have unique features compared to our competitors. In Nepal, we have launched 28 products. Hitachi worldwide has 700 different models. We will introduce more products in Nepali market as per the demand and requirement. 

What prospects do you see for your products in Nepal?

SATO: I see a lot of prospects here. Our products consume less electricity and have long life. They are good in quality. Joshi: Nepal is basically severe power-shortage country. Our low power consuming products will prove quite handy here. We also know that many power projects are in the pipeline. Our products are eco-friendly and are quite useful in construction works. We see a lot of opportunities here.

What could be the problems and challenges in Nepal?

SATO: I do not see that much challenge as our main feature will be the after sales service. Chinese or other products may not have that.

Joshi: I do not see a major challenge here. Our power tools are innovative and durable. The power tools market in Nepal is dominated by Chinese products, about which the people have the general perception that they are simply ‘use and throw’ items. We want to show the users a different path in which they will be entitled to get the qualitative after sales service as well.  After months or years of use, the end users can go to the service provider, fix the machines and reuse them. 

What could be your market strategy in Nepal?

Joshi: We will share our Indian experience and advise our distributer KPS here in creating distribution network, ensuring constant availability of our products and doing some promotional activities.  We will formulate more marketing strategy depending upon the situation.

What about market share?

SATO: Our first target will be to achieve a two-digit market share.

Who are your competitors?

SATO: Bosch, a German multinational is the market leader in Nepal in the upper segment, i.e., the branded products. The other major players are Makita (Japan) and Dewald (USA). Including Hitachi now, the competition will be among these four branded companies. We do not have competition with low priced Chinese products, as we are not targeting that particular market segment. Our focus is only on upper segment.