Philips Buys into The US Market

After some interesting moves from Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V., which included some joint ventures with LG Electronics to have a larger access to the monitor market, Philips is undertaking some other moves towards other possible markets, one of which being the mobile accessories market.

To do so they have announced that they will acquire Digital Lifestyle Outfitters (DLO), a US-based company that specializes in the design, marketing and distribution of accessories such as docking stations, FM transmitters, cables and cases for mobile audio-visual devices (MP3 players and video players). The company's move towards this market is just an attempt of enlarging the scope of Philips' Peripherals and Accessories business unit, which in a period of three years, between 2003 and 2006, has doubled the sales volume on its own.

Rudy Provoost, Chief Executive Officer of Philips Consumer Electronics, said: "Besides building on our acquisition of Power Sentry last year and Gemini in 2004, acquiring Digital Lifestyle Outfitters will strengthen Philips' ability to address emerging trends in this market - such as peripherals and accessories for multi-functional phones - through innovative products that deliver on Philips' brand promise of sense and simplicity"

The purchase of this company will extend and consolidate Philips' grasp onto the American soil. Philips believes that the expansion into the accessories domain is a good choice as the business "is among the fastest growing and higher-margin product categories in consumer electronics today." It also means for the company that the peripherals and accessories will bring "strategic growth areas" in the "mobility, audio and PC domains."

Philips also recently established a base in Poland through a factory that will build LCDs for the European market, being a project of LP Displays, it has the goal of having European-based factories, which will allow the products being built there to be quickly delivered to their target region, and also escape some of the taxes that apply for products manufactured in Asia. By taking their business to Charleston and Raleigh/Durham (South and North Carolina), they will also benefit of quick delivery to American customers for the products they need, such as MP3 accessories.