Elekta on expansion course with Saudization

Elekta, described as a world leader in innovative home appliances, has drawn up a plan to expand into the Saudi market as part of its expansion strategy. "Our goal is to turn this Saudi company from its present SR 200 million turnover to SR 500 million by 2015," Nishad K.A., Elekta's general manager for business development Saudi Arabia, told Arab News in an exclusive interview.
The company originally penetrated the market through large hypermarkets, Nishad said it was conscious of contributing to Saudization. "The company always tries to hire more and more Saudis into the work force. "We have 25 Saudis working with us now, but we are going to increase the number to 50 soon."
Elekta, which entered the Saudi market in 2005 after its successful entry into the Dubai market in 1994, has launched aggressive campaigns to penetrate into the traditional market in Saudi Arabia.
"We have just one show room in Jeddah so far, but we are planning to expand in other parts of the Kingdom with the opening of five more showrooms — in Makkah, Madinah, Riyadh, Dammam and a second one in Jeddah," Nishad said.
"Offering innovative and quality oriented products at affordable prices is the key to our success in the Saudi market, as its customers always look for quality products," he said, adding we are targeting customers who want to enjoy quality products at affordable prices. "There are middle class, higher middle class and higher class customers so we provide quality products for all kind of customers. Elekta continues to add new products to its lineup in order to keep up with market demands and tastes of different consumers," he said.
Elekta is strengthening and maintaining its brand image while reinforcing its range of home appliances for the Saudi market. "We see Saudi customers as being very conscious of leading an environmentally responsible lifestyle, and Elekta is well placed to meet these demands," he said.
Elekta develops products that are capable of meeting the real-world needs of today's busy, environmentally conscious consumers and is keen to provide the wide range of household and electronic products in the Kingdom, we are confident that Elekta products have gained the confidence of the Saudi people and in the future we will fulfill their expectations even better," Nishad added.
According to Nishad, Elekta products are designed and developed in the main company's research center in Osaka, Japan and are manufactured in the company's factories in China, Thailand, India and Malaysia with sales in more than 30 countries around the world. "Despite the highly competitive market, we are successful because we have been delivering quality products," Nishad said.
The sourcing, packaging and quality control is managed by Elekta's China office in Guangzhou. Quality control engineers are based in the three major electronics producing regions of China. Apart from China, goods are also procured from Korea, Turkey, Egypt and India, he added.
Elekta has a wide mix of products consisting of more than 400 different models. Elekta's product mix includes TV, audio, video, Hi-Fi, Tablets, small domestic home appliances and major domestic home appliances. "Elekta keeps adding new products to enhance its product mix to meet the changing demands of the market," he added.
Since 1988, Elekta has successfully grown over the last 25 years to become a significant player in the consumer electronics and home appliances industry across the globe.
Elekta Gulf is headquartered at Jebel Ali Free Zone, Dubai. It has 16 offices spread across several countries with additional offices projected for the future. "Our 11 service centers located across Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Iraq and India, provide effective and efficient after sales service. Our Vision is to establish Elekta as a leading player in the global market in terms of our product quality, innovations, and value for money and customer centric approach. We aim to be the top preferred and favored brand in our chosen markets," Nishad said.
Currently, Elekta has over 500 em-ployees at its offices across the globe.