Purpose driven Innovation leads 66% growth for ASUS laptops

Tolga Ozdil, ASUS Southern Africa, Systems Country Manager

In November and December, for the first time in South African history ASUS was the top selling laptop in the country. What accounted for that and do you think that trend will continue?

The most obvious answer is that the pandemic has driven work from home and remote learning demand. But in the consumer segment the demand for entertainment has also led to an increase in over all PC and laptop sales. ASUS laptop sales grew 66% in 2020, moving the brand from 5^th in consumer sales to 1^st. This growth was consistent over both consumer, premium and gaming segments. This indicates a unilateral rise in demand for laptops across the entire ecosystem.

The pandemic has placed a spotlight on the need for digital transformation in both SME and multinational companies. The acceleration of this existing trend has started to shift what’s considered normal business operations in South Africa toward digital. This trend should continue as both business owners and consumers become more comfortable with transacting and engaging with businesses online.

As a brand ASUS has emerged from the shadows in the last few years, what can people expect from the brand? Who is ASUS?

ASUS is about the search for incredible, that can be in the smallest gesture or a life changing event. We create innovative products that help people achieve incredible things, the extraordinary spirit requires an extraordinary laptop or PC. That’s our goal. Going forward we continue to focus on purpose driven innovation within the consumer, commercial and education space.

There has been a significant amount of radical innovation from ASUS in the last year, particularly with regards to Dual Screen laptops. Why do consumers need a dual screen?

Most recently our innovation has focused around making people more efficient. We are taking the day-to-day lives of our customers and searching for every possible edge that we can give them. First, we launched the ScreenPad, turning the laptop trackpad into a small secondary display. Then we took that a step further with a full 4k secondary display that sits above the keyboard. This is particularly useful for multitasking not only for the everyday professional or student, but it offers a marked and measurable increase in return on investment of time for creative professionals who charge by the hour and can now work with desktop efficiency just about anywhere.

What can South Africa expect from ASUS in the near future?

In 2021 we will double down on the investment in serving up innovative new products for creative professionals such as video editors, graphic designers, architects, and animators with our ProArt line. The big story for us internally is the drive into the commercial market with the ASUS Business suit of products. The last few years have focused on building the consumer side of our business, streamlining distribution processes, building a service network and creating a relationship of trust between the brand and consumers. Now its time for us to invest in corporate South Africa and bring the same level of innovation, value and service that has taken us to the top of the consumer segment to the commercial market.