Dubai
Sony is expecting a tenfold year-on-year increase in revenues from the Middle East and Africa region this year compared to two per cent year-on-year growth last year.
Taro Kimura, Sony’s new managing director for Middle East and Africa, outlined his strategy through new product launches and a refreshed business development strategy that will place the company and its business partners in a strong position to gain market share in the company’s focus categories, which are television, digital imaging and audio products.
When asked how confident he is to attain the 20 per cent growth, he said: “We grew 23 per cent last year from the Middle East region but we suffered 30 per cent fall in revenues from the Africa due to oil price weakness and currency fluctuations. If we can stem the slide in African countries and grow by five per cent this year and continue the Mideast business growth by 25 per cent, we will be able to achieve 20 per cent overall growth this year.”
Kimura aims to achieve his mission by refining the products, area and account strategy, evolving the operations of Sony and business partners, and increase the top-line and profit.
Sony is looking to grow its television sales by 26 per cent, audio product sales by 11 per cent and achieve a 7 per cent sales growth in its interchangeable lens camera business this year.
Last year, Sony’s TV business grew 16 per cent while its audio products [headphones, wireless speakers and sound bars] fell by 12 per cent and digital imaging by 24 per cent.
Sony, which launched the world’s first OLED (organic light emitting diode) TV panel in 2007 with an 11-inch, is again going to launch OLED 4K HDRs (high dynamic range) in July in 55, 65 and 77 inches.
The special thing about the A1 series is the way it delivers audio. Sony calls it Acoustic Surface sound system. The sound seems to emanate directly from the display itself rather than the traditional speakers.
Kimura said that television is its key driver for business growth and its product strategy of best picture quality, design and usability remain unchanged.
Sony will launch 37 TV models this year compared to 23 models last year.
The company grew its TV business by 174 per cent and hit 16 per cent market share in 2016 in the 55-inch TV size category, experienced 112 per cent growth in the 65-inch and hit 18 per cent market share, while the 75-inch TV size segment achieved 252 per cent growth with a market share of 20 per cent.
Kimura said that Sony is outsourcing the OLED panels but the internal engine and processors are made by the Japanese firm. For this year, Sony will launch only three sizes but if OLED panel prices become more affordable and panel performance becomes better then we may go for more models next year.
The prices for the region is not fixed yet but the 55-inch is priced internationally at $4,999.99, 65-inch at $6,499.99 and the 77-inch will be launched later this year.
Moreover, Kimura said that audio products will grow five-fold this year. The sound bar category grew by 126 per cent last year while the high power audio one box series achieved 55 per cent growth. The headphone and earphone business has grown by 38 per cent.
In the digital camera business, Kimura said that Sony’s mid-segment grew from 58 per cent in 2015 to 65 per cent in 2016.
“The strength of Sony is that we develop all key camera components in-house. Sony today offers a selection of 24 lenses all of which are High Resolution compatible. No other camera manufacturer offers such an extensive range of high-resolution lenses since legacy lenses are not high resolution and future compatible,” he said.
