It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change. So said Charles Darwin. This quote was given by Jiangfeng Zhi, President at Hikvision Europe BV during the company’s first European distributors’ meeting, in Lisbon on April 23 and 24.
At the event, the respective Hikvision Sales Directors from Italy, North-West Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, UK, Israel and Russia shared their story.
Keen Yao, International Marketing Director, stressed the importance of the event as the Chinese CCTV company aims at strengthening relationships with its clients, that is to say distributors, throughout Europe.
Security and Fire Market Analyst Aaron Dale from the market research analysts IHS was invited to speak, and offered some figures and market trends. Given the drop in sales of analogue cameras, the market is seeing growth in second generation HD CCTV devices, such as TVI technology, and an increase in IP camera shipments. In 2013 Hikvision reported its global market share had reached 11 per cent. Dale touched on the topic of key vertical markets for Europe. Special attention has to be paid to residential and consumer markets that will eventually involve traditional video surveillance systems and Home Monitoring and Smart Home Video Surveillance, he suggested.
A gala dinner at Xabregas Palace in Lisbon was the social climax of the two days: an occasion for networking and an awards ceremony. Distributors were invited on stage to receive a recognition for their growth, technical support to clients or long-term relationship with Hikvision.
The second day saw presentations on technologies and products. The Smart and Turbo HD lines were thoroughly explained. Besides brand awareness, the company is aiming at what it calls “product-range awareness”.
