by Ingo Beyer von Morgenstern and Chris Shu
September 1, 2006

Competing in mainland China's consumer electronics market has never been easy: rampant price wars caused by overcapacity have squeezed profit margins to some of the lowest levels in the world. And, as if things weren't bad enough for manufacturers, a new wave of consolidation among electronics retailers is turning up the heat.

We recently saw the acquisition of China Paradise Electronics Retail by Gome Electrical Appliances Holding, China's leading electronics speciality chain. That came fresh on the heels of an alliance struck - then put on hold - between China Paradise and Dazhong Electrical Appliance. In April, US-based Best Buy acquired Jiangsu Five Star. All this has happened within the space of a few months.

Retail chains dominate the consumer electronics landscape: a handful of these players control as much as 40 per cent of sales in first-tier cities like Shanghai and Beijing.

They dominate even more in some product categories: the new giant forged from the imminent merger of Gome and China Paradise will control 60 to 70 per cent of TV sales in Shanghai.

Unless consumer electronics players - whether Chinese or foreign - rethink their strategy, they risk losing the battle for the wallets of millions of mainland consumers.

A lot is at stake: the mainland's consumer electronics market has been growing at a compound rate of 12 per cent a year, and is expected to reach about 1 trillion yuan by 2010, up from 590 billion yuan this year.

This market will account for 25 per cent of the global market by 2010. Carving out a share of it has ranked high on the agendas of many of the world's consumer electronics companies for some time. Many of the world's best-known brands already have a sizeable presence in China.

But price wars - triggered in part by the rise of the electronics retail chains and overcapacity - have pushed profit margins on TVs and other white goods to below 3 per cent - among the lowest in the world.

Amid the proliferation of brands, many manufacturers are having a harder time competing for shelf space in the major electronics retail chains. A growing number of second-tier brands, both foreign and domestic, are being pushed off the shelves in favour of better-known and faster-selling ones.

Moreover, the US and European trend to sell products under retailers' own labels will catch on in mainland China. Gome already has its own brand, Idell, while China Paradise recently introduced a line under the brand name Yole. These private-label brands will compete head-on with established brands.

So how should consumer electronics players compete on the mainland? First, manufacturers need to form win-win partnerships with the large retail chains, helping them build capabilities in marketing strategy, in-store promotions, and supply chain and inventory management. These are critical capabilities that retailers in more developed markets may take for granted, but which many mainland retailers still lack. Firms that help retailers build these skills will secure their position as "strategic vendors" to the major retail chains.

Surprisingly, not all consumer electronics companies on the mainland are equipped to serve the needs of the large retail chains. Many lack dedicated teams to focus on serving the major retail chains that comprise the bulk of their sales.

Others have individual sales teams for each of their product categories: in one case we observed, a manufacturer had five different sales teams calling on the same retail-chain account.

For most consumer electronics players, working more closely with these new retail giants will be an essential part of staying in the game.

Some, however, may want to fight fire with fire, and consider opening their own branded stores. Sony and Zhuhai-based Gree have already opened hundreds of branded stores throughout the mainland, selling directly to the consumer and playing an important role in shaping the buyers' experience with their brand.

The trick, however, will lie in co-investing with dealers at the city level - to share the investment risk - while exercising direct management control over these stores, to maximise sales and manage their brand properly.

For example, Sony co-invests with local dealers to build Sony shops. But it directly manages the in-store sales teams, to ensure that sales targets are met, inventory is tracked, and valuable information on customer buying behaviour is collected.

Finally, two trends may play to the advantage of foreign players in the consumer electronics sector. They are the opening of mainland China's distribution sector in line with its World Trade Organisation commitments, and the growing presence of large, sophisticated foreign electronics distributors like Ingram Micro and Trend Micro.

Through their existing global relationships with these large distributors, foreign manufacturers can gain access to hard-to-reach geographic markets and distribution channels. These include regional department stores and small, independent speciality stores.

Competing in the mainland's consumer electronics market may be tougher these days due to the wave of consolidation reshaping the landscape. But the players that figure out a strategy for collaborating with these new electronics retail giants - without becoming too dependent on them - will have a better chance at succeeding in this dynamic marketplace.

Ingo Beyer von Morgenstern is a director who leads McKinsey & Company's high tech practice in Asia. Chris Shu is an associate principal in Shanghai.

This article was originally published in the South China Morning Post.