Sony To Begin Direct Selling
SAN FRANCISCO, Jul. 14 (Traffic World/KRTBN)--Sony Corp. is making
plans to begin direct sales sometime this year of its computer and
computer-related products such as notebooks, peripherals and PC
monitors.
"We haven't gone direct before. We're targeting the home consumer
market but our notebooks will target the business market," said Lisa
Young, a spokeswoman for Sony Information Technologies of America, the
division of Sony Electronics created one year ago to pioneer direct
marketing. "Our intent is not to go after market share but to build the
infrastructure for exceptional customer support service," Young said.
Sony follows in the path of other computer makers such as Dell
Computer and Gateway 2000, which already have gone the direct marketing
route. Despite their success, selling to the consumer market directly
is a tough job, according to one computer industry analyst. "Not
everyone wants to buy directly. Some people still prefer to buy
face-to-face, particularly if it's the first time they're buying a
computer," said Charles Smeuthers, an analyst with Dataquest, a San
Jose, Calif., computer marketing research firm.
About 70 percent of computer equipment sales are made through a
reseller or distributor, Smeuthers said, although the industry as a
whole would like to squeeze that percentage way down. Selling through
traditional channels is riskier than selling directly, because the
price volatility of PC components can eat up the value of inventory
stock.
"The golden model in this market is the direct model, where you don't
build a product until an order is actually received. But the direct
model needs its own infrastructure instead of relying on a
distributor," Smeuthers said. For that reason, making sales through
both direct and indirect distribution is hard to pull off.
"Historically a direct sales strategy doesn't increase market share but
it does increase profitability," Smeuthers said.
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News. SNE, DELL, GTW, END!A3?TW-SONY
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Robert, a wise choice I am sure.....SONY is already planning to go head to head with Dell using thier same business plan........;^) |
