LG Electronics, a leading provider of business solutions, announced today that in the first quarter of 2009, it moved up to become the third largest manufacturer of computer monitors in terms of market share by quantity. LG managed to achieve this milestone by increasing its sales volume in the first quarter, despite the recession which caused the overall IT market to shrink compared to the last quarter of 2008.
LG held 11.1 % of the total monitor market by selling nearly 4.3 million monitors, according to market research firm Display Search. This represents an increase of almost half a million units compared to the previous quarter. Third place was previously held by Hewlett Packard, which dropped to fifth after Taiwan-based Acer. Market share in terms of sales revenue increased to 10.5 percent, 1.2 percent higher than the previous quarter.
“Our first quarter was successful because we recognized the shift in global demand from 16:10 aspect ratio monitors to 16:9 models ahead of many of our competitors and altered our production accordingly,” said H. S. Paik, President LG Electronics Gulf FZE. “We also extended our product portfolio to accommodate the needs of both consumers and business customers and strengthened our presence in expanding markets.”
LG’s success in emerging markets is due to a great degree to the company’s aggressive marketing strategy. Unlike many other competitors, LG increased its marketing activities during the economic downturn with a stronger emphasis on cost-effective online initiatives. LG made greater use of online technology to help customers find detailed features and specifications as well as information on competitors’ products. LG also focused more of its marketing on emerging areas of communications, such as bloggers and online videos.
“We believe that the best business strategy is the one you implement when the market is retracting,” added H. S. Paik. “The market may be shrinking but our goal is to have a bigger share of the pie.”
Growth in emerging markets and keen consumer insights key to strong first quarter
