Skin Media expects them to generate EUR4 million annual revenue and help it attain a 5% market share in two years.
The group started out 14 years ago and currently distributes Nikon products and Toshiba TVs in Romania and has its own tablet and phone brand, Utok. In all, Skin Media posted 182.4 million lei (EUR41.2 million) revenue in 2013, the same as in 2012.
“We’ve been keeping our business at around EUR40 million for three years now and want to stay in the same region but with a different mix of products,” says Camil Perian, co-owner and general manager of the group.
He says he constantly watches the market, the enthusiast niche to be precise, which helps him choose brands and products.
“Two years ago for instance, we used to get 25% of our revenue from the distribution of Acer and Toshiba laptops. We won’t be carrying laptops any more as of 2015.”
Perian says he made the decision because the company was no longer able to provide added value, considering most products have similar specifications and prices.
Therefore Skin Media is now entering a new business segment, kitchen appliances, with brands like Oster (blenders), Breville (coffee and sandwich makers) and Marcato Design (pasta machines), none of which previously available in Romania. Four of the brands are held by US-based Jarden Corporation.
“My job is to find new brands and lines of business. We convinced them the local market has potential when we showed them what we have done so far and what our plans for the future are.”
All the manufacturers had heard of Romania but their plans were to first enter major markets like Germany and France and then move to Czech Republic and Poland and only later come to Romania, Camil Perian says.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)