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“Let’s go Keyless” - A Roaring Success at Archidex 2017
“Let’s go Keyless” - A Roaring Success at Archidex 2017
St Guchi Malaysia’s thematic campaign for its digital door lock (DDL) category ‘Let’s Go Keyless’ received an overwhelmingly positive response from customers, partners and participants at the recently concluded Archidex 2017, held at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre from 19-22 July.
St Guchi is one of the key brands of Teamware, the market leader in locks and hardware in the Malaysian market joined the ASSA ABLOY Group in 2015.
Archidex is South-East Asia’s leading industry trade event and this year marks its 18th edition and showcased more than 1,200 booths by 550 local and international exhibitors.
St Guchi has been participating in Archidex since 2009, making 2017 the eighth year of the local team’s participation. This year, St Guchi has showcased its latest digital door locks, mechanical locks, aluminium & glass as well as its fire rated door at the Archidex.
Digital Door Lock (DDL) Category: Unlocking Growth Potential
The simple and modern booth design, coupled with a strong theme and clear messaging, drew thousands to experience for themselves the various DDL demo kits – many of whom were impressed with the product’s keyless convenience and biometric fingerprint technology.
Newly appointed General Manager Francis Chang expressed his optimism concerning DDL’s potential growth opportunities and firmly believes that ‘Let’s Go Keyless’ will be the company’s springboard for success in 2017 and 2018.
“The DDL category is currently in its infancy with a significant opportunity for growth potential given the vastly untapped market in Malaysia. As most users still use mechanical locks, our strategy is to build upon St Guchi’s brand reputation and dealer network strength to collectively increase brand awareness and market share,” he said.
“With the proliferation of the Internet of Everything and Home Automation phenomena, we believe more and more customers will begin to make the transition to DDL – be it in retail or amongst commercial project developers,” he added.
Impressive 400 New Leads Generated
Archidex is endorsed by Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation and supported by the Works Ministry, Tourism and Culture Ministry, the Malaysian Conventions and Exhibitions Bureau and the Malaysia Green Building Confederation.
The exhibition attracted 36,000 visitors, including architects, interior designers and building industry players who came together to connect and collaborate. It is believed a total of MYR 1 billion (~USD 0.23 billion) worth of transactions took place during those four days.
Through the distribution of booklets and demos, the Malaysia team was able to obtain an impressive 400 new customer leads for the DDL category, capping off a great start to the ‘Let’s go Keyless’ campaign.
The team was also able to raise the profile and awareness of St Guchi and ASSA ABLOY by having the ASSA ABLOY endorsement at the booth and in all promotional materials.
The Best Is Yet to Come
The campaign’s success at Archidex is only the beginning of great plans for St Guchi DDL, of which Francis hopes to extend to other St Guchi product categories as well.
“While St Guchi remains one of the most recognisable brands in Malaysia, we aspire to be the market leader in all product categories and not just DDL. We will accomplish this by improving overall operational efficiency across our supply chain, inventory management and sales and marketing. We will also explore modern, creative methods to engage meaningfully with our stakeholders,” he said.
Francis believes that St Guchi’s eventual success lies not only in output but through cultivating a culture of excellence across the entire workforce.
“While we want to achieve strong profitability, it also matters how we arrive at these results. It is important that we as a team develop a strong sense of ownership in delivering quality products and services, whether to customers, dealers or suppliers. This shall be our unique competitive differentiator,” he concluded.
St Guchi Digital Door Locks: Keyless, Convenient and Secure
St Guchi Digital Door Locks: Keyless, Convenient and Secure
Established in 1996, St Guchi is one of the key brands of Teamware Hardware, the market leader in locks and hardware in the Malaysian market. The St Guchi brand is positioned as a single source solution for doors and windows hardware products. With continuous innovation and improvement throughout the years, St Guchi products have expanded from humble Mechanical Locks, Aluminium & Glass Accessories, Door & Architectural Hardware, Sliding & Folding Doors System to Fire Rated Doors and Digital Door Locks. In 2015, St Guchi had become so renowned that is was acquired by ASSA ABLOY, the global leader in door opening solutions.
B&I magazine recently caught up with Teamware Hardware General Manager, Mr Francis Chang, to find out more about their St Guchi products and key success stories.
B&I: Can you tell us more about Teamware Hardware as a company and the St Guchi brand?
Francis Chang: Teamware Hardware Sdn Bhd wholly owns the St Guchi brand. This brand has been around for almost 30 years. Teamware Hardware have a workforce of more than 100 employees nationwide. We became a part of ASSA ABLOY in 2015. (ASSA ABLOY is the global leader in door opening solutions and the world’s biggest producer of doors and locksets solutions – in terms of turnover). By combining our strength with ASSA ABLOY, we have become a stronger entity.
As for the St Guchi brand, it is not only famous for its Mechanical Locks, it is also renowned for its Digital Door Locks in the Malaysian market. St Guchi’s mission statement is as a single source solution for doors and windows hardware products and that’s one of the main reasons we are different from our competitors. In addition to that, St Guchi’s products are also available nationwide through St Guchi’s retail outlets and also the project segment.
B&I: How popular is St Guchi products in the Malaysian market?
Francis Chang: I believe that St Guchi products occupy the top spot in the Malaysian locksets industry. This includes the Retail and Residential Project segments. Based on our research, one out of four Malaysian households is safeguarded by St Guchi, and every one out of five residential projects is supplied by St Guchi. St Guchi is also the fastest-growing brand in the Digital Door Lock category here in Malaysia.
Our St Guchi’s Digital Door Lock bestsellers are our SGDL-TF100 model, which comes with 4-in-1 features such as fingerprint access, card access, password access and RFID tag and sticker. In Q1 of 2017, St Guchi had great success with the launch of SGDL-TC 40 & 41 – a Digital Door Lock with Password Access. For glass doors, St Guchi also has the model SGDL-TG 11. We will start 2018 with a bang by launching our Matt Black edition Digital Door Lock which is the SGDL-809L/C70, it has a simple yet stylish design and it looks good on almost any door. Besides that, most of our St Guchi Digital Door Lock models comes together with an emergency key for added reassurance, just in case you forget your password or you misplace your access card or RFID tag.
B&I: How does St Guchi differentiate from its competitors?
Francis Chang: I strongly believe St Guchi is the only “Single Source Solution” provider in Malaysia. We cover a range of holistic doors and windows hardware solutions from Mechanical Locks, Aluminium & Glass Accessories, Door & Architectural Hardware, Sliding & Folding Doors System to Fire Rated Doors and Digital Door Locks.
In my opinion, the other doors and locksets suppliers in the Malaysian market may only provide a certain range of products to the consumers but they could be lacking in the other product categories – for instance, they may be lacking in the Digital Door Locks category or they do not provide any Fire Rated Doors. In preparation for the growth of the Digital Door Locks category, St Guchi has set up a dedicated customer service team that could be contacted 24 hours a day.
B&I: Has St Guchi products gained recognition from any certified agencies in the world?
Francis Chang: The quality, durability and safety of our products are our main priority and our products have been certified and tested by both Malaysian and international/ independent quality assurance bodies such as SIRIM, Warrington, TUV and SGS. We have even gained the certification from the world’s largest testing and inspection certification agency, Intertek.
B&I: What is St Guchi’s growth plan for the future?
Francis Chang: We are looking to triple the sales growth of St Guchi Digital Door Locks among Malaysian consumers in the next two years.
B&I: How is St Guchi planning to achieve that?
Francis Chang: We will continue to participate in major trade events such as ARCHIDEX and HOMEDEC. We look forward to strengthening our trade partnership with our current dealers and distributors nationwide. We will continue to leverage on our St Guchi Digital Door Lock “Let’s go Keyless” thematic campaign. The campaign will be further amplified through the use of billboards, press advertisements, leaflets, flyers and trade magazines.
We are also looking to improve and strengthen our brand visibility through the upgrading of our retail shop front signages nationwide. Our product display and merchandising in the retail environment will also be improved in order to offer a better shopping experience to our customers. We will also continue to expand our distribution channel across Malaysia.
Besides promoting our product features and benefits, we are also looking at the latest design and lifestyle trends in the industry. We foresee that St Guchi Digital Door Locks will be the next big thing and each modern household in Malaysia will own at least one Digital Door Lock in the future. It will not only provide convenience but will also enhance the social status of the home owner.
Additionally, our Technical and Innovation Team is striving for continuous improvement for new technology that will revolutionise the doors and locksets industry in Malaysia. To all of our customers out there, please stay tuned for new developments.
B&I: How popular are Digital Door Locks among Malaysians?
Francis Chang: Currently, Digital Door Locks and conventional Mechanical Door Locks actually complement each other. Every aspect of a door’s “DNA” will remain the same – including the use of mortise locksets, door hinges and lever handles. Home owners do not need to replace their existing door and lockset. Homeowners just need to add the Digital Door Lock to their existing door to further enhance their home security.
Homes, especially residences in the urban areas, are becoming “smarter” and automated these days – you can switch on the lights or air-conditioner remotely using your smart phone even when you are overseas. Shouldn’t your door lock be able to offer the same level of convenience?
We rarely change our door locks, right? So when there is an opportunity, why not choose St Guchi brand that will probably last a lifetime.
B&I: How convenient are Digital Door Locks?
Francis Chang: For example, if your grandparents or elderly relatives are staying in your home, you do not need to burden them with multiple keys that are both heavy and a hassle. By having the St Guchi Digital Door Lock installed in your household, all your family members can enjoy the convenience of going in and out of your home through the use of an access card, finger print access, password access or RFID Tag/ Sticker. The choice is yours and they are both secure and convenient. I believe our loved ones deserve the best in life – especially when it comes to home security. Many modern homes are going keyless, let’s make St Guchi Digital Door Lock the preferred choice today.
