CONSUMERS the world over are now shifting to products of high caliber—and Sony, among other brands, is certainly their first choice.

This should surprise no one, since the Japan-headquartered company has been the world’s leading manufacturer for consumer electronics and broadcast and professional products for more than 60 years ago.

“This, we attribute to the device and ‘know-how’ of our people,” Sony Philippines Inc. president and managing director Toshiya Kagita told the BusinessMirror in an interview. “The use of the device is what’s changing the industry or the market; ‘know-how’ is how we make the device based on what the people want.”

Sony traces its humble beginning back in Japan in 1946 from the sheer determination and labor of two enterprising young men, Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita, who worked hard toward realizing their dream of owning a successful global company that it has become today.

From early attempts at creating products like the rice cooker to the latter successes such as creating Japan’s first magnetic recorder, Sony has continued to produce other hit products which are designed to make peoples’ lives better and easier.

Such benefits, in return, have earned for Sony as the leading global consumer electronics brand that is known for its quality and innovative products.

While Sony Philippines Inc. (SPH) officially started its commercial operations in the country only on October 1, 1997, Sony’s products have already been distributed in the country since 1971. In more than 35 years, Sony Corp., together with its local distributors, has done a lot to improve its market position in the Philippines, and make Sony literally become a household name.

“We are very much satisfied with this [market position] and thankful to the customers—the Filipino customers,” Kagita said.

Asked of his perception of the local market, Sony’s top man in the Philippines described the Filipino consumers as intelligent, who “understand new technologies well and really want new things.”

He, likewise, noted that comparing Sony with other foreign brands is akin to “apples and oranges”—wherein other brands are more concerned on “price and price and price,” instead of beneficial qualities of their products.

“That’s why we enjoy promoting Sony products here [in the Philippines],” he said.

Family orientation

THE company name of Sony, which originated by combining two Latin words of sonus (which means sound and sonic) and sonny (or little son), has a spirited ring to it.

Easy to articulate and read in any language, it took only a short span of time for Sony to comfortably fit to the Filipinos’ culture and lifestyle.

“Filipino customers give much importance to their family,” observed Kagita of the typical Filipino household.

“The majority of them is physically staying together in one place, while about 2 percent of the population is [residing] outside the country [as overseas Filipino workers].

“We want to support this typical Filipino family setup with our unlimited creations and innovative ideas.”

Banking on the “close family ties” culture of the Filipino customers, Sony owns a dominant share of the local market, particularly in the audiovisual segment—thanks largely to the market’s positive response to Sony’s high-definition (HD) technology.

“Ever since we brought in the HD in the Philippines, Sony has ruled the HD category, being the most trusted brand of high-definition products,” the Sony executive said.

“This paved the way for another breakthrough that brings more excitement to the Filipino lifestyle.”

Best thing to happen to TV

Since the dawn of the era of color television, HD is being heralded as the biggest thing to happen to TV as it provides a sharper, clearer, and more colorful image than the current standard television picture.

HD is represented by the tiny rectangular dots called “pixels” which make up the images appearing on the TV screen. These pixels are also present on HDTV, although they are square in shape and are 4.5 times smaller.

An HDTV has at least 1280x720 pixels, while a standard-definition TV has only 640x480 pixels. This means the viewer is getting three times more detail than the best analog television pictures today.

Although HDTV has finally taken off in a handful of countries around the world, specifically the United States, Japan, Australia, Canada and South Korea, the Filipino consumers will have to be patient, according to Kagita.

In the absence of HD broadcast here, he said, Sony is doing its part to always be at the forefront of the HD revolution and let the local market experience the difference of this breakthrough technology.

He, likewise, stressed that the company’s products are already the industry standards for the professional film and broadcast sector.

Customer loyalty

AMID Sony’s lording over the television category in the Philippines, the technology powerhouse also has a strong hold in its other businesses—information technology, semiconductor and component devices, games, and other consumer and professional products.

“We have strong points in each place,” Kagita explained. “We estimate our current share between 25 percent and 30 percent. We have enjoyed that [estimate of] loyalty or patronage of the local market since two years ago.”

Aware of the fact that consumers’ wants are constantly changing every year in line with developing technologies, Kagita said that enhancing more of its “device” and “know how” has enabled the company to ride through market and product competition, economic trends, evolving consumer behavior and organizational changes.

He added that the company analyzes the buying attitude of its competitors’ customers—why they buy competitors’ products or simply their satisfaction points—while, at the same time, introducing innovations to its products and services to better satisfy the consumers. Furthermore, Sony also invests to create new markets to keep the company ahead of the rest.

New products

In the last fiscal year, the Philippine subsidiary of the Japan-based consumer electronics giant posted an estimated P4.4 billion in gross sales for the 12-month period ending March 2007—remarkably higher than the P3.5 billion reported in the previous fiscal year. For the current fiscal year, the SPH chief expects sales to also “grow in double digits.”

To complement this growth target in the Philippines, Kagita said the company has already introduced new products and solutions, such as HD and Bluetooth.

For its HD family, the electronics giant is bent on introducing a lot of variety of HD LCD TV, HD cameras or video camera, and the blue-ray disk player.

With digital audio lovers also on its priority list, Sony offers yet more ways to enjoy their music via Bluetooth technology.

In this line, Sony’s latest headsets come with built-in Bluetooth capability, which can be linked to Bluetooth-enabled cell phones or digital audio players to enjoy high-class listening hands-free and wirelessly.

Not to be ignored also are the other products in Sony portfolio, such as car radio/audio, speakers, headphones, as well as the gizmos from affiliates Sony Ericsson, Sony Music and Sony PCs.

“No other technology firm in the market today offers a more complete line of products and solutions that provide unparalleled connectivity like ours,” Kagita said.

“These innovations, without doubt, make consumers to always have Sony as their first choice.”

When it comes to quality, consumer electronics giant Sony Corp. scores highly among buyers

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