Toshiba forms joint venture with TCL to expand flat-panel TV sales in the mainland

With an eye to entering China's vast hinterland, Japanese conglomerate Toshiba Corp has formed a 50 million yuan (HK$57.32 million) joint venture with mainland electronics giant TCL Corp to expand its domestic television sales.

Their new Guangdong-based enterprise, Toshiba Visual Products (China), will take the lead in marketing Toshiba-brand flat-panel TVs through a nationwide network of more than 10,000 stores it plans to establish by 2012.

Alongside mass-merchandise stores across the coastal provinces, where Toshiba already has a presence, the joint venture will cultivate ties with smaller retailers and individual stores in lower-tier cities in the inland provinces, according to spokesman Keisuke Ohmori.

Ohmori said the venture will tap into TCL's extensive sales organisation, market expertise and nationwide distribution channel of more than 20,000 stores. Toshiba's liquid crystal display (LCD) TV sets are now available at more than 1,000 stores, mainly in coastal-area locations.

The stakes are high for both TCL and Toshiba, which has been producing TVs for the domestic market at its plant in Dalian since 1997.

Shenzhen-listed TCL also serves as a contract manufacturer for a broad range of Toshiba-branded products.