The following appears on buisnessmirror.com
TOSHIBA Global Commerce Solutions Inc. (TGCS) disclosed its plan to invest in software and services to complement its existing hardware portfolio in the Philippines.
This, the company said, is expected to increase the company’s revenue by 15 percent in the second half of its fiscal year.
“Within the Asean [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] region, the Philippines is the strongest in terms of revenue. We constantly contribute about 50 percent of the annual revenue of the Asean market for Toshiba,” Erwin Chuaunsu, director for Asean Sales and Professional Services of TGCS, told the BusinessMirror in an interview.
“Within six months, we hope we would have grown by 15 percent starting October 1 to March [2014 as we follow a] fiscal year,” he added.
TGCS spun off from the Toshiba TEC’s acquisition of the majority ownership of 80.1 percent of the former IBM Retail Store Solutions division in August 2012.
Under the sale purchase agreement, IBM would retain a 19.9 percent within three years, after which Toshiba TEC would become the sole owner of the company.
Initially, the acquisition was completed in the United States, Canada, Australia and Mexico. By December 1, 2012, integration of additional presence in several countries was completed, including the Philippines.
“Because of the new company, the focus has likely changed, whereas before, the perception of the market has always been [we’re a] hardware supplier. Now, we are focusing on increasing our software and services offerings,” Chuaunsu said.
In less than a year, the retail solutions company’s hardware portfolio has already realized strength in the domestic market, particularly in the point-of-sale (POS) segment.
TGCS has Jollibee, among other big fast-food chains in the country, as its customer for the touch screen SurePOS 500; while Rustans Group is a client for its multi-function SurePOS 300. The brand’s top-of-the-line SurePOS 700, on the other hand, serves the likes of retail giants SM, Puregold, Mercury Drugstore and Metro Gaisano, among others.
To complement its existing hardware portfolio, TGCS will continue to invest in software and services in terms of assets, resources and partnerships so the company will be able to address most of the retailers’ requirements in the store.
In the software area, Chuaunsu said they have been marketing their Visual Store solution, wherein they already have customers in the Philippines and Indonesia. Locally, SM Department Store and some of its affiliates are using the Visual Store since 2011.
“It’s a POS software solution, which is Java-based and very easy to customize and feature rich,” the top executive said, while citing constant positive feedbacks from the Sy-led retail giant. “They are happy [with it]. In fact, they agreed to become a reference for us.”
Click here to read the rest of the article on businessmirror.com
