Shin, who is also the President – South-West Asia, LG Electronics, refers to Hindustan Unilever as a ‘marketing genius’. Ask him about LG’s competition with Samsung, he says, with his tongue firmly in cheek, “Interesting. It’s a romantic love story.”

Excerpts:

How has the brand LG grown in consumers’ perception over the years in India?

In the last ten years, thanks to the strong infrastructure we have established, we are in the No. 1 slot across the product range. The Indian consumer perceives LG as a value-for-money brand. This is mainly due to our mass market products. But, we don’t want to continue that. Now we want to reposition our brand as an aspirational one.

From the beginning of this year we started working on that and we have been interacting with our customers and dealers for their insights, and it will be completed by the end of this year.

In future, even our advertisements will not talk about product pricing. Instead, they will talk about product quality, features and after-sales service support. We are going to communicate the real benefits customers would get from our products.

LG is in four verticals – home appliances, consumer electronics, GSM handsets and IT products. Which one do you think you are the strongest in?

Actually, we are very strong and No. 1 in the home appliances segment. In the consumer electronics segment, particularly in the flat panel display products, we are No.2 after Samsung. And right now, we are a small player as far as the GSM handsets and IT products are concerned. Going forward, we would focus more on flat panel displays – both LCD and Plasma TVs, GSM handsets and personal computers as they are going to be our growth engines. From the year 2010, we want to move away from the brand imagery of consumer electronics and home appliances maker to that of a manufacturer of GSM and IT products. We want to achieve market leadership in these segments through differentiated product offerings, product quality, after-sales service and finally customer satisfaction.

Does it mean that LG would slowly get away from other categories?

No. In fact, as I told you, our strength lies in the home appliances segment. We are planning to expand our product portfolio with a slew of launches next year. For example, in the washing machine segment, we have developed a new technology that is more energy-efficient and consumes less water. We will be launching it next year. We will also launch a 40-bottle-capacity wine cellar, air purifier, a new range of microwave ovens and more powerful vacuum cleaners. We are also planning to foray into the ‘inbuilt kitchen’ segment for which we will tie up with some builders and architects. This is in the initial stages of planning. We see a good scope for this concept. There is always a good demand for differentiated products in the market.

Will your new products be India-specific?

Of course. Even our existing products are. We have a separate R&D team here and an India-customised testing lab. Every year, LG is investing over 5 per cent of its turnover in R&D. We know that India is a vast country with different climatic conditions. Our products are designed and tested to suit Indian conditions. From time-to-time, we conduct lifestyle studies in various parts of the country to find out what customers aspire for and their insights, and design our products accordingly. It’s an ongoing process.

For example, in India, in most of the households washing machines are operated by servant maids. So our washing machines are designed to be easy to operate. Now we are developing refrigerators for households where pure vegetarians and non-vegetarians live together. Our new microwave ovens will be more suitable to cook Indian cuisines. Here, colour preferences also differ. Indians may not like the colours that European or Americans like. But, basically, whatever we produce, we want them to be differentiated, futuristic and of high value. We don’t want to compromise on quality. In LG, the emphasis is clearly on quality, come what may.

In the audio-video category, which technology will LG support – HD DVD or Blu-Ray?

Blu-Ray. We have already launched our Blu-Ray disc players in other countries. We keep watching the Indian market and demand levels. As we feel it is too expensive for the Indian market right now, we are developing a new chip that would reduce the cost of the product. So … I think we will be able to launch it here in the next one year, for a price of around $200.

What’s your take on the competition with Samsung? You compete with them here as well as in the rest of the world…

Oh! (Laughs) … Interesting. It’s a romantic love story. Even back home in Korea, we are almost neck-to-neck. Globally, and in India, they are pretty strong in flat panel display TVs and monitors. We are strong in the home appliances segment. However, with our latest launch of Pearl Black series of LCD TVs, we hope to catch up with them very fast. Our Pearl Black LCD TVs and the Shine range of GSM handsets are a great success in the market here.