At that time Seiko was struggling to sell its quality monitors in the U.S. market. Chu convinced it to ship to him, arguing that he could sell a monitor with each one of his popular keyboards. He provided Seiko specs for monitors that filled specialty niches. In a remarkably risky move, Chu decided to sell the monitors under a new brand he would create. He hired an agency to help develop a logo as distinctively colorful and user-friendly as Apple's.
Everything from tropical fishes to butterflies were considered before Chu settled on the trio of colorful Australian finches that has become the ViewSonic trademark. These birds are commonplace in Australia, but rare and expensive elsewhere.
"The bird is unique," Chu says warmly. "It saved a lot of money. People easily remembered this bird." Later, he was so grateful to the birds he brought some over from Australia and tried to raise them, unsuccessfully.
"Very very hard to raise," he admits. None has died in his hands, however. He set them free when he noticed their feathers falling out. Among the thousands of trade journals that crowd the expansive bookcase of his office sits two books on the delicate science of raising Australian finches.
Chu launched his three-finches brand image campaign n 1990 with ads in PC Magazine. They were a success, Chu judges, because they established the ViewSonic name as a quality leader.
"A lot of people thought we are a Japanese company, a big Japanese company," he says gleefully. "A brand name gives you the prestige you need to [create a quality] product.
"How much I could charge was a different issue. It is [whatever] the customer wants to pay. Customers wanted to pay much higher than our original expectations. That's more important than how much we wanted to charge."
Chu was gunning for the niche NEC held, and tailored his first ads to that end. "Before, your choice was NEC," he says, recalling the ad copy. "Now you have an alternative."
Before long Chu's success in building the ViewSonic brand gave him the profits to create more proprietary monitor designs calculated to fill unseen niches. This high end line was named PerfectView. He gave the name OptiQuest for his low end. The corporate name was changed to ViewSonic.
In the past year ViewSonic has entered the market for Macintosh-compatible monitors and gotten more than its share of recognition from the trade press. A recent issue of a resellers' trade journal shows ViewSonic ranked first in price-performance ratio, tied with Sony for first place in service and support, second for reliability and tied with Samsung for second in profitability. The only area in which ViewSonic ranks lower than NEC, Sony and other leading monitor-makers is in cross-platform compatibility. The reason for that, Chu says, is that until last year its sales have been aimed exclusively at the PC market.
A recent Mac user magazine survey ranked ViewSonic monitors second to NEC and ahead of Apple/Sony in the 20- or 21-inch categories, impressive given that Sony's Trinitron technology has always set the standard in the Mac market. ViewSonic uses the competing shadow-mask technology employed by NEC, Samsung and Goldstar.
ViewSonic's reliance on big Asian manufacturers for its supply of picture tubes has made it easier to expand into every monitor niche.
"Trinitron can provide up to 20 inches," Chu says, "but Diamatron can provide 21 inches. We can provide a complete solution, a to z, but our competitors can only provide a very narrow range of products." ViewSonic's line now extends from a standard 14 incher all the way up to a 29-inch presentation monitor at the suggested retail of $3,995.
Chu is a walking compendium of developments in monitor technology. Today's CRT technology will reach the limits of its refresh rate by mid 1996. He expects ViewSonic to introduce a perfectly flat CRT mid-year, and later the 28-inch widescreen that is starting to enjoy acceptance in Japan. This fall will come a 30.7-inch flat monitor that can be hung on a wall. For the first time since its development, supply will exceed demand, allowing prices to drop quickly from the $6,000 level. By 1997 ViewSonic will soon sell a Japanese-made 70-inch gas-plasma display that's only 5 inches deep. LCD projector screens will become the next big trend.
"Today's CRT technology is the lowest cost, great performance product today, but it takes up a lot of space."
That fact isn't entirely without the plus side, as Chu sees it. The CRT's bulk and promiment place on the desktop makes it the most visible piece of computer equipment--a boon for a company looking to builds its brand image around the world.
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Chu is now addressing frequent queries about the "Sonic" half of the company name. The recently released ViewSonic line incorporates speakers on either side of the monitor.
Chu aggressively keeps ViewSonic at the leading edge of safety standards. It was among the first to implement the British NTR2 standard. It is now among the few companies offering a full line of monitors that meet the even more stringent European PCU standard.
Chu draws on his detailed grasp of every niche of the monitor market to map out each new opportunity. One he has already set his sights on is the niche enjoyed by Radius, the top independent brand of monitors for Macs. By March Radius was pulling out of the monitor market.
Chu's aggressive and successful targeting of vulnerable competitors has made ViewSonic the second biggest independent monitor company, just below NEC. In the second quarter of 1995 ViewSonic shipped $106.17 million in street value compared with about $178 million for NEC.
ViewSonic closed out 1995 with sales of $309 million, shy of the $340 million Chu projected in late 1994 but a whopping 55% growth over 1994 revenues of $200 million. This February ViewSonic set a new monthly record of $27 million. Based on the latest sales trends and fast increases in European sales, Chu is shooting for $500 million or more for 1996.
"Growth rate in the U.S. will fall to 40%," Chu says, "but internationally, we have a huge opportunity." In Europe sales growth remains steep, from only $8 million in 1994 to about $35 million in 95. Euro revenues will pass $100 million in1997, accounting for about 20% of total sales.
"Lots of overseas vendors ship products without quality," Chu says. "They feel, we'll make money now, today and don't really worry about tomorrow. This company is different. You need at least five to ten times more effort to sell new customers. So [it's] costly to lose your old customers. Also, if they like your company, they tell friends.
"If you know what customers want, you can find the easiest way to sell the product. The easiest way is to let the customer have [what they want]. Meet your customers' expectations.
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