Namita Chhetri, CEO, ICMR, Planman Consulting, disagrees

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If proof of the pudding is in the eating, then Tamagawa is putting his words into action. Walk into a Sony shop and you’ll realise that for one, the company has changed the branding of their exclusive retail stores – Sony World – to Sony Centre, brushed up their brand shops and upgraded their displays, ways of demonstration and even the quality of floor salesmen to world standard level. Tamagawa claims that these moves would provide new shopping experiences to the consumers that cannot be availed of in any other consumer shop in India.

Strangely, despite the recent excise duty cut, Tamagawa says Sony just might increase its product prices, “If the current exchange rate continues or further declines in FY09, we may not be able to avoid a price increase. Furthermore, the duty structure of India is still very high compared to other countries, and the consumer is the one who pays this high tax. The government should consider a reduction in the duty structure as a means to stimulate consumer demand.”

Namita Chhetri, CEO, ICMR, Planman Consulting, disagrees, “The real killer of all these glorious attempts of Sony is not the duty structure but Sony’s refusal to understand that providing consumer finance drives consumer sales in the Indian electronics industry!” There seems some sense in the logic as, while the industry average for financing products is at 40%, Sony India finances only a measly 5% of its total product sales.

At the end of the day, the fact is that Sony was the first foreign company to be allowed into India with 100% FDI. And it’s certainly not going to be the last. Unless Sony fortifies its consumer loyalty levels, rising competitive pressures and reducing duty structures might see a day when Sony ends up getting the shorter end of the market stick, both in differentiation and in price.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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