Bangkok--19 Mar--Pro Media PR
Renowned Japanese IT manufacturer Buffalo Inc. announced today its partnership with ECS Holdings/The Value Systems and Copperwired alongside the opening of its first flagship store in Thailand aptly called, “Buffalo Store,” now open on the 4th floor, Zone C of CentralWorld in Bangkok.
Located on one of the largest high-class shopping malls in South East Asia—providing a good platform Buffalo for brand promotion to both Thai and foreign mall visitors—the first Buffalo Store comes as a springboard for the brand's further expansion in Asia. Buffalo Inc., ECS Holdings/The Value Systems and Copperwired Co, Ltd. have entered into this partnership to communicate Buffalo’s added value to customers under the company’s global branding strategy that emphasizes its extensive technologies and underscores its corporate mission to make digital life more enjoyable.
Mr. Makoto Maki, Chairman and CEO of Buffalo Inc., Japan said that through the establishment of this concept store, Buffalo hopes to communicate to customers the quality and added value of Buffalo products. Thailand is one of the fastest growing markets in Asia and more and more Thai consumers are becoming tech-savvy, in addition to their patronage with good Japanese products. The country certainly provides a platform for Buffalo to expand its business further to the entirety of Asia.
Based in Nagoya, Japan, Buffalo Inc. was established in 1975 as an audio equipment manufacturer before embarking on the PC peripherals markets. The company is now a prominent global provider of external HDD, NAS, wireless routers and other PC Peripherals such as mouse and cable wires with a total annual sale of US$1.6 billion. Particularly in the field of NAS, Buffalo is ranked first and best manufacturer in the world.
“In Japan, many of Buffalo products have achieved top market share in each category. I believe our success came from continuously proposing highly beneficial products and solutions for making customers digital life more enjoyable than just selling ordinary products,” Mr. Maki continued.
IT devices, he emphasizes, such as smartphones have become more user-friendly over the years, attracting a wide audience, most of them non-PC users to start trying more IT devices. To allow customers an access to its array of IT devices and their respective applications, the Buffalo Store provides the "Experience Table" that customers can fully get to know the products—not only by their product description but also by touching and trying them first-hand.
“We are now living in a world where contents for commercial or personal use, such as pictures, music, and movies are rapidly digitalized. We are the only all-around peripheral manufacturer who can propose the total solution of storing (NAS, HDD), transmitting, (wireless router), and watching (media player) digital contents. For example, I can connect to my NAS at home, see the pictures of my grandson stored in NAS using our Webaccess function, or I can connect to my wifi network anywhere in my home with using our High Power Wireless router,” he noted.
Meanwhile, Mr. Maki added that the foreseen success of the Buffalo Store is duly credited to its the partnership with ECS Group and Copperwired to help bring Buffalo products to Thai shores.
Mr. Narong Intanate, Group CEO of ECS Holdings Limited & Executive Chairman of The Value Systems Co., Ltd. said ''This tripartite partnership was initiated from the cooperation between Buffalo and ECS over the past five years. ECS has been appointed as the exclusive distributor of the Buffalo brand in five countries namely Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, The Philippines and Singapore. However, the large market of China has been excluded from the agreement. When ECS started developing the market of Buffalo products, the company had emphasized in selecting dealers by working only with those who have committed to focus and devote in fully developing the market. ECS can be regarded as the market developer for Buffalo brand in this region, particularly establishing the brand recognition in NAS and External Hard Drive products in the Asia Pacific markets. The company has later been trusted to become exclusive distributor of Buffalo accessories.
Meanwhile, the market response seems to not have reached its maximum potential because there were no particular showroom to clearly display the products to attract the interest among consumers. Executives of both companies discussed and agreed that there should be a place where customers can visit and learn about all Buffalo products, and this is where the brainchild of having a “concept store”—a first in Asia and in the world—came up. The partnership has been created to tap middle to upper end-consumers and to do so, the store must be situated in a shopping center or lifestyle mall, not an IT mall, to reflect the products’ trendy image.
ECS accomplishes that with the allegiance with Copperwired Co, Ltd., an outstanding IT retailer in lifestyle category. Copperwired's reputation for its efficiency in managing iStudio and iBit shops in Thailand and also being the first company that launched lifestyle shops such as Dot Life, which now has 10 branches makes them a perfect fit for launching the first Buffalo Store in Bangkok. The company is confident in the capability of Copperwired as evidenced by its existing projects, which have similar formats and products as Buffalo's, who's also moving towards tapping more of the market of lifestyle products.
The strength of this partnership lies in the complementary efforts of these three companies: Buffalo's world-renowned brand quality and credibility; ECS's experience as a leading importer of in-demand IT products, offering after-sale services and market activities to stimulate customers’ growing demands; and Copperwired's extensive background on location selection and impressive brand management to attract more customers to visit the shop.
“As a leader in the IT market, I wish to see the fruitful growth of the first Buffalo Store in Thailand, Asia and the world so three of us—Buffalo, ECS and Copperwired—will have the pleasure to watch the store’s success. When this happens, this store will be the model for the establishment of more stores in other countries or elsewhere in Thailand,'' added Mr. Paramate Rienjaroensuk, President and CEO of Copperwired Co., Ltd. "Buffalo is synonymous with high-quality and trustworthy products globally, particularly with its reliability and performance that many users have grown to love. Buffalo is a top leader in Japanese IT market whose products and brand are widely recognized and trusted by Thai customers, thus, having its own store in Bangkok will enable them to serve and care for customers better than before."
Buffalo products cover a wide range of IT integration, thus the opening of "Buffalo Store" will provide easier access to Buffalo products as customers can come and experience the products themselves and get assistance, if needed, from trained staff stationed at the "Buffalo Store". All staff can help demonstrate how to use each product, allowing customers to have a thorough understanding about its features and arming them with the confidence that they will fully benefit from Buffalo products. With the staff's help, customers can easily evaluate their needs and choose the products they desire, all at reasonable prices. Outstanding offers at "Buffalo Store" are HDD (Hard Disk Drive), NAS Network Attach Solution) and Buffalo accessories.
"Buffalo Store" is now officially open and can be found on the 4th floor, Zone C, CentralWorld in Bangkok.