In the third quarter 2003, Toshiba increased its sales in Saudi Arabia to well over double the overall market growth and narrowed the gap on the market leader to only four percentage points.

Less than three years ago, Toshiba barely featured in the Saudi market and even at the end of the third quarter 2002 had only a 16.8 percent share. But official figures from IDC show that Toshiba’s 5,165 unit sales were up 151 percent on the same period last year, compared with market growth of 63.5 percent. Market share has grown from 16.8 percent to 26 percent, while the market leader declined from 61.6 to 30.7 percent.

The company’s phenomenal growth was first triggered by a decision to focus on the Middle East as a prime growth market, according to Ahmed Khalil, regional manager, Toshiba’s Middle East Computer Systems Division. Control of the region was shifted from Singapore to the company’s European headquarters in Germany, thus shortening the supply chain and moving closer to Middle East customers.

Khalil attributes Toshiba’s rapid growth in Saudi Arabia to its excellent working relationships with Saudi distribution partners Jarir Bookstore and Arabian Business Machines (ABM). Jarir concentrates on retail distribution for Toshiba, while ABM is responsible for major accounts and servicing the small to medium business sector, backed by a strong technical support capability.

“Our market segmentation, client service, and product support strategies are proving very successful as is borne out by the latest sales figures,” stated Khalil.

For Toshiba, growth has been across the board, from small and medium businesses to corporate customers and home users.

“We also identified the education sector as a key growth area and this is now yielding results as prospective customers complete product evaluation and testing and begin to place orders with us,” Khalil said. “We have a mobile computer to suit everyone’s needs or budget and we expect continued growth due to our Centrino-based mobile technology that is driving the sales of products such as our second generation Tablet PC, the M200.”