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Casio dealer considers plant in Kingdom as sales balloon

JEDDAH: As one of the countries having the youngest populations globally, with 66 percent under the age of 30, and an average household of 5.9 people in 2010, Saudi Arabia has the potential to become the world's sixth largest economy by 2050, Citibank predicted in a recent report.

Against this backdrop, Mahmood Saleh Abbar Co. - the exclusive agent of Casio products in the Kingdom, is mulling over the possibility of establishing Casio manufacturing plant in Saudi Arabia.

Mohammad Ali Basurrah, manager, Casio Division, told the Saudi Gazette that the idea of the manufacturing plant here comes on the heels of the latest Saudi government's policy to generate more jobs for the young population and the fact that the power supply for any factory will always be available at reasonable rate due to the abundance of the oil/gas and solar energies.

Moreover, Tsuneo Nagai, manager, Casio Timepiece Department, Japan, said at a Casio dealers' convention held in Jeddah recently, that "Casio is trying to minimize the impact (of recent tsunami that struck Japan) on its production."

The Japanese executive also said Casio is planning to invest more in Saudi Arabia as he sees huge potential in the growing watch business in the Kingdom.

Nagai noted that the Saudi market "is very big and the growing number of young population gives an opportunity to expand business further.

The Gulf countries contributed more than 50 percent of Casio's Middle East and Africa region sales.
Casio earned 86 billion yen globally of which 15 percent came from region. This year, the brand expects around 25 percent growth in revenues from 20 percent last year.

He further said Casio, which participated in a watch fair in March in Switzerland, is targeting young population in the Kingdom with its new trendy models. There are over 2,000 Casio models available in the Kingdom to choose from.

"Saudi Arabia is a stable country, so we want to invest more to keep an edge in the competitive watch market," Nagai added.

Basurrah added that Casio watches command the respect and enjoy the admiration of the greater majority of people in the different sectors of the society due to the timepiece's durability, affordability and versatility.

There was a time when Casio brand was the top-selling Japanese brand, particularly when it launched the Baby-G model worldwide, Basurrah pointed out.

And as a proof of its ever-expanding market share in the Kingdom, Casio unveiled plans to renovate the showrooms in the Kingdom - one in Makkah and another in Khamis Mushyat - to support its existing 14 showrooms, the latest of which is in Jizan. He noted that the new showrooms and even the old ones that undergo renovations, carry Casio's new "G-Factory" motif to highlight Casio's five leading Brands, namely the G-Shock, Baby-G, Edifice, Sheen (for ladies) and Protrek.

Basurrah likewise said the five categories of Casio watches enjoy "increasingly tremendous sales" as they are not merely with a one year to three years warranty, but are at the same time fashion statements for the young generation with an array of very useful functions notably for the sports aficionados and enthusiasts such as hygrometer, tachymeter, fishing time, mounting time, tide graph, marathon simulator, stopwatch/football stopwatch, 5-motor chronograph, sensors for altitude measurement up to 10,000 meters (at 5 seconds interval),barometric pressure reading, schedule memo, world time, currency conversion, moon data (moon age), countdown timer, multifunction alarm, hourly time signal

Long-battery life (10 years), solar powered, and temperature measurement

Moreover, Casio service centers are strategically located in major cities supported by Japanese technicians who regularly visit the Kingdom to train in-household technicians in new models.

© The Saudi Gazette 2011