The consumer electronic market is still growing and while flat panel TV sales have slowed there is still plenty of opportunity and ‘solid growth’ for vendors and retailers said Carl Rose the CEO of Sony Australia. However he has taken a swipe at white good and AV retailers who he says will struggle going forward unless they make changes.
He has also said that he anticipates a shakeout among retailers soon with Companies like Clive Peeters and Retravision tipped to struggle as the market flattens. He also said that retailers need to get closer to their customers with the introduction of marketing programs that allow them to collect sales and profile information. “This is a lost opportunity as we don’t know enough about the needs of consumers”. He said.
He added “At Sony we have done a lot of work on customer segmentation. In the past we have been guilty of having a very vertical hierarchy where now we have been able to split products into segments so that we can fulfil customers needs more easily. In the channel we are now working on identifying which is the right product for the retailer. What is good for JB Hi Fi may not be as good for Harvey Norman”.
“At the moment there are retailers out there who are very much marketing driven and there are those that are struggling because of poor marketing practises”.
One such Company according to Sony is Clive Peeters who shares are down 79% this year alone “We have sat down with them and tried to help them. We told them that they have to change their model and it is only now that they are starting to understand the need for change” said Rose.
Recently several analysts told ChannelNews that Clive Peeters was set to struggle with one analyst describing their advertising and marketing as being “anal” “There catalogues and advertising look like a corporate product brochure when compared to what Harvey Norman or JB Hi Fi are doing. It’s like the Company is being run by a graphic designer instead of a hard core marketer who understands the importance of getting consumers through the door” said a Citi Group executive.
Rose said “I believe that going forward that the guys who come from a white goods or AV driven background are going to struggle because they are just not getting it. For example at Sony it has taken us some time to become an AV and IT driven Company we have had to learn a lot of good lessons along the way. Now we have to look at becoming content and services driven Company”.
He added “If you contrast this with where some of the older retailers are they are going to struggle transition to the new world which is going to be driven by net technology and content coupled with a high level of service”.
Speaking shortly after the roll out of a world first Sony product range Rose said “What we are showing today is leading edge consumer technology. It is tomorrows technology today and retailers have to understand how to sell it”.