INTERVIEW: VIRGINIA CHENG, BENQ A long-lasting proposition
Paddy Baker talks to the managing director of BenQ Europe about the company’s approach to the projector market, and how it has managed to carve out such a dominant position in DLP
How long did it take BenQ to become the worldwide number one DLP projector brand? How was this achieved? We started co-operating with Texas Instruments in 1997 – although the company wasn’t called BenQ until 2001. We were one of the earliest companies in Taiwan to work with TI – even then, its DLP technology was very advanced. Since then, we have become a strategic partner to implement the latest technology that it releases onto the market. According to Futuresource,
we’ve been number one in the DLP market since 2009, when we had a share of 7.7%. This has grown year on year: as of Q4 2013, we had a 22.8% share of the global DLP projector market. If you look at the whole of the projector market, our share is 11.7% globally and 17.6% in Europe as of Q4.
What do you think is unique about BenQ’s offering? Our product development philosophy involves discovering and fulfilling the customer’s needs and wants. At the same time, as a strategic partner of TI, we
18 April 2014
look at leading technology trends and how to implement them into the total solution. So we’re not just chasing after technical specs, we’re looking at what the customer really wants – in every market segment that we address.
And do those customer wants and needs develop over time? They do. For example, two years ago we started to put a lot of resource and focus into studying customers in the home sector. From our consumer behaviour study, we found that people want a big- screen experience, but they hesitate over choosing a projector because they are worried about installation hassles and ambient light levels. So to solve these issues we came up with a projector with a wireless connection that makes installation much less of an issue; and we found a good balance between picture quality and brightness, so that ambient light doesn’t affect the quality of the picture. We’ve also introduced short- throw projectors into the home market that don’t have to be installed on the ceiling – they can sit on a tabletop.
The result of this was very successful feedback from the market last year – and we took over 30% of the worldwide market for Full HD home projectors. Another point worth making is that our home video projectors have become much more accessible in terms of cost. They used to be expensive and came with a high-end spec, but we now make them with the most useful features at a lower price. This is because good-quality DLP technology has led the solution to a more affordable cost.
What do you see as the main advantages of DLP? The first day we entered the market, we adopted DLP – not only because of our co- operation with TI, but because of the uniqueness of the technology in meeting customer needs. For us, DLP is the technology that can really deliver our promise to the customer – it guarantees a long-lasting, true-to-life image without any hassle. The long-lasting image is
mainly because we use DLP’s DMD [digital micromirror device] chip. This is designed
for use in tough environments, so we can guarantee that it will not deteriorate over time and cause colour decay. Second, because of the design of the DMD engine, we’re not worried about dust – our projectors are filter- free, so there’s nothing that needs to be cleaned or replaced. That could be a very big hassle for the customer, especially when the projector is mounted on
the ceiling. The third advantage is the
image quality that comes from the DMD engine and also the colour wheel, which produces accurate and true- to-life colour. We can optimise the choice of the colour wheel for different scenarios. So, for example, for home usage we can choose a saturated colour wheel that produces strong colour with efficient brightness; but for meeting room models we will
Virginia Cheng – a brief biography
Virginia Cheng is the managing director of BenQ Europe; she has led the Business Line Management department since January 2014
Prior to her current position, she spent the past five years leading the Business Management, Projector department of BenQ Corporation in the company’s global headquarters in Taiwan
Between 2005 and 2008 Cheng spent time at BenQ China heading up the Projector Business line. During her time working as projector business line manager, BenQ’s market position in China grew from sixth to third (Source: Futuresource) with 158% quantity growth.
Virginia Cheng holds a BA in Political Science from National Taiwan University and a certificate equivalent to an MBA degree from the International Trade Institute of Taiwan
www.installation-international.com
‘We’re not just chasing after
technical specs,
we’re looking at what the customer really wants’
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