PRINTERS Cebu is Brother’s second largest market in Asean
The continued growth of businesses in the Philippines has fueled the growth of Japanese printer maker, Brother Industries Ltd.
Brother Philippines is said to be the second biggest market for Brother Industries within Southeast Asia, said Takao Shima, managing director for Asean operations.
“Your country is growing. There is so much potential for growth expansion here,” said Takao, during Brother Philippines’ opening of its newest service center at the ground floor of The Mahogany Place yesterday.
Glenn Hocson, president of Brother Philippines, said that the retail market remains a prime growth driver of Brother’s revenue in the country but a consistent growth among the corporate and small and medium businesses (SMB) across all industries have also provided a steady growth in sales and has strengthened the footing of Brother’s operation in the Philippines.
“We are now a very significant part of the Brother’s market. Our expansion in Cebu signifies our confidence in Cebu’s economy, with businesses continuously expanding.
We expect this office to cater to the sales and after sales services and marketing efforts for Cebu and the Visayas,” said Hocson.
“Brother Philippines has been operating in Cebu for years now and business has been doing well,” he added.
Amid the initiative of companies to go paperless, Hoccson said Brother’s future remains rosy, following innovations they have adopted to make their business remain relevant.
He said producing multi-functional printers that can perform tasks like scanning, copying, printing, and transmitting of faxes are some of their product innovations.
Hocson said some printers have added features like scan to edit.
Brother also launched a free mobile app that allows a user to print photos from Windows phone, and print from and scan to an Apple and Android smartphone on a wireless network.
“We have been evolving our printing business to cater to the new requiremets of companies and even the younger generation, who are becoming more digitally-inclined,” he said.
Brother Philippines’ head office is located in Bonifacio Global City with extension offices in Cebu, Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Pampanga, and Naga. The company will open its Iloilo extension office by January next year.
The firm has factories located in Batangas, Vietnam and China. The Philippine plant manufactures inkjet printers that are sold, not only in the country but also to other foreign markets.
Hocson said the company sells at least 100,000 printers annually.
Brother Industries also offers products and services in home and embroidery sewing machines, labellers and scanners.