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Sony Quietly Opening Retail Stores
as400tek writes "According to CNN, Sony
Electronics Inc. has been opening stores in selected cities all over the
US. Denver and Las Vegas are the next two location, or location numbers 11 &
12. Should the Apple retail model
be applied to Sony, and if so why didn't it work for Gateway?
Should Dell be next to enter you local shopping mall? Should large retailers like Best Buy and others be afraid of this model? Does this mean better service
for Sony's already nice line up of electronics?"
Their online stores have done very while. I am surprised that people shop online and pay retail prices when I am used to shopping online in order to get a discount. They have great brand recognition and people, by and large, believe Sony to be a high quality electronics provider. I think they have a good shot at being successful.
http://www.busyweather.com/
I live in Texas, most of the malls in my area (DFW) have Dell Kiosk things in them that are actually quite nice where you can demo several products and make orders if you decide to purchase.
in canada, sony has had stores for long time. there is one here in vancouver in a mall in the suburbs, not news (at least not to us).
Marge, get me your address book, 4 beers, and my conversation hat.
Oh, and no customers.
We have Sony Centres. As the name implies, they only stock Sony products. As far as I'm aware they are franchises and not directly operated by Sony. However, whenever a particular Sony line is in short supply, the Sony Centres never seem to suffer.
I've got a fever and the only prescription is more COBOL.
We've had The Sony Store in Canada for more than a decade. In my town, there are at least three, with two of them on the same street.
They're all fairly small stores, the "no sports on TV" rule applies, the prices are competitive with the big boxes -- and often better once you count the gift cards they usually give you with any reasonably-sized purchase.
www.kitchengeek.com -- Nosh for
Gateway didn't succeed because you went to their store to configure and order a machine. You then waited several weeks or longer for it to arrive. When they had these in my area they did zilch. People could go to any number of stores and walk out with a computer and when people are ready to buy, most didn't want to drive to a store just to place an order. I think that towards the end they started keeping a few preconfigured machines in stock but not many. They also had an awful compensation plan for their sales people.
http://www.busyweather.com/
The times I've been inside a Sony store, it seems like everything is priced at retail.
I can get Sony stuff cheaper at the discount stores.
And that's a large part of it's "buy me" factor. Walking into a Sony store is much more draw dropping than your standard consumer electronics store and that experience probably leads to real money for them.
Boffoonery - downloadable Comedy Benefit for Bletchley Park
And it won't work for Sony. Both companies compete in the super-commoditized consumer electronics market. Neither of them have any real competitive advantage, other than Sony's fading brand name. Apple never tried to be the lowest cost provider; they have products that competitors either don't have or are not the same. The store model works for Apple because they compete on their own merits and people will go out of their way to buy Apple products. Granted, they are more expensive and often very proprietary, but they have a significant fan base. Sony and Gateway do not and will not have this advantage, therefore the only thing they will have to compete on will be features and price, just like every other electronics company. They will have a hard time keeping up with the massive flood of cheap consumer goods sold at Best Buy that are brought in by the boatload from Thailand and they will suffer miserably.
"There's been at least one Sony shop in Dublin, Ireland for probably about five years. This doesn't seem like news to me."
:(
Yes, but don't forget the US is the center of the Universe...it's not actually news until it happens here
Sad, but true.
It didn't work for Gateway because Gateway was more like a "CompUSA" (a store I loathe) and Apple is more like a high-end boutique. I realize that both models have their place and can be effective, but Gateway's essentially selling commodity goods while Apple sells a whole "lifestyle." Visiting an Apple store is an experience in itself and has drawing power. Nike stores are similar in this way (at least the major one here in San Francisco).
We also have a major Sony presence here The Metreon and its own Sony Styles store (although as a poster above points out, it's not exactly perfect). and I think Sony will do it a lot more like Apple based on what I have seen (high end fixtures and architecture, high-drama).
This is a smart move for a brand like Sony--they need to recapture the caché they once had more of.
"...all the labours of the ages, all the devotion, all the inspiration, all the noonday brightness..." yada yada
Nobody buys a gateway because they really want a gateway.
But some people actively seek out sony products (i cant imagine why, but my brother has spent THOUSANDS on them, and lots more replacing them when they break). The same is true of apple. They are as close to "designer" brands as we have in electronics.
People do buy luxury watches, clothes, food items in store when they could get them cheaper online - it's more about the experience than the price.
I have visited the store a few times in the South Coast Plaza(CA.). In my opinion these stores really lack the "added value" that a branded Sony store should give. The Sony products, while very cool, don't lend themselves to the integration and "wow factor" that you get being in an Apple store and seeing cool features implemented. Also, the staff there is your basic run of the mill Circut City type employee (not particularly energized or informed).
There is not much difference in the presentation at the store vs. a nice consumer electronics shop and I don't feel like I am having a unique "Sony" experience by being in the Sony store because the products are not being presented in a new way.
While apple has a real motivation to open these botuiques (informed sales people and proper product presentation) I dont really see the long term breakout potential for Sony. They already have the benefit of ubiquity.
Having said that, its a great store to kill time in while your wife is shopping!
Who is General Failure, and why is he reading my hard disk?
Gateway's products were all commodities w/Gateway badges on them. Why would anyone buy regular PC hardware from a specialty store?
When you buy a computer from the Apple Store, you do not buy a commodity item; you buy an "Apple." You get the style, the culture, the product line--iPod, iMac, iBook, PowerBook, Power Mac. Apple is somebody who sells a lifestyle, and that's what justifies an "Apple Store."
Alan
They'll be the most expensive place to buy Sony products, only carry home electronics (no computers or parts), and be staffed by people who know all the buzzwords but have little idea what they mean.
There's one at South Coast Plaza (costa mesa, CA) and it's kind of cool to wander around and see all the gadgets. Once.
Since they only sell the one brand, there aren't a lot of new products to draw people in. Plus it's retail prices for everything so you'd never buy there, just look and go home and order online.
Comparing it to apple stores...
* apple has a genius bar staffed with people who can often fix your problem right there. sony had some sales vultures trying to sell me a plasma.
* apple has 3rd party software available for purchase
* apple stores (some of them) have a closeout/discount bin for cheapskate shoppers to check out
* apple's products are just better designed than sony
* everything in the store is compatible with everything else
* grassy knowl and start button on every monitor makes the sony store look a lot like best buy or compusa
Should large retailers like Best Buy and others be afraid of this model?
It's about market presence and Sony ego. They no longer dominate by superior engineering so they will try to dominate by glitter and youth/yuppie appeal.
At least that's this old geek's opinion. And I've been watching Sony for 30 years.
"Eve of Destruction", it's not just for old hippies anymore...
There's a new one in the Stanford Shopping Mall in Palo Alto, which is a VAST difference from the Metreon store. It feels like it has a lot more focus with respect to the various product lines. When you walk in from the mall side, the left wall goes from portable audio to laptops to playstation. The center kiosks deal with camcorders and media and computer accessories, and the right side has desktops and entrances to two side rooms for home audio/video equipement, which feature major products, but not every single thing they sell, so it's easier to compare different models. The Metreon store sucks because they try to put every television into a simulated living room environment, which takes up a lot of space and makes it really hard for comparison.
I picked up a pair of V6 headphones (Thank you Sony for bringing them back!) there and everyone was nice and knowledgeable. According to one employee they've been open for about three months.
It's still Sony MSRP pricing which blows, but it's a much better store "style" (no pun intended) for showing off their products, in my opinion.
They've had these stores for years, I first walked into on in Chicago back about 1992 and looked at most of what they had, because I was looking for a model of portable stereo only available in Europe and Japan (which internet dealers are only too happy to sell you, where once you were pretty denied, thanks to their bizarre marketing.) I don't know how much they sold, as they were usually a bit above what you'd pay at discount stores, but were placed in the fashionable downtown areas.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Well he wasn't lying to you technically speaking. 1. All sony music players will play MP3s once they have been converted using the included software. Yes it's time consuming and unnecessary but if you have an MP3 file then the MD/NetMD/Walkman will play it. 2. ATRAC3 gets a lot of flac for poor quality, and in the early stages it indeed sounded bad. It's reached version 4.5 now IIRC and sound tests show that a 64kbs Atract is indistinguishable from a 128kbs mp3 (of course we all use a higher bitrate I hope but that's the standard) 3. Atrac saves on batteries, it's not just marketing spin. I have a MD player (moving parts and all) and I can get upwards of 20 hours using one NiMH AA battery. I'm not expecting you to rush out and buy a MD, and while the software that comes with them is a pain, once the music is on the machine, they're hard to beat. Thanks
I have worked at Fry's (They deal dirtier than Wal*Mart to their suppliers, employees, and customers.)
I am sure you have seen those advertisements that Fry's puts into your local paper.
Guess who pays for them. (Hint it is not Fry's Electronics, it is the manufacturers that were advertised within the first third of the page.)
In the San Jose and the SoCal area there is at least an 8-page Fry's Electronics "news section" once a week.
--
For the products you see "featured" on the endcaps or other high visibility areas, the manufacturers pay "rent" to Fry's for this "premium real estate" to the tune of US$5K/week/store (this was 1993!)
I have seen some vendors end up PAYING for the privelege of being porked by Fry's at the end of the promotion because the product did not sell on its own merits despite this preferred placement. (The "rent" completely engulfed the $sales expected by this promotion. The Fry's brothers learned this trick from their parent's grocery business.)
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Also, Fry's is notorious milking their net terms with their suppliers and due to their size can "choose another vendor" if current supplier does not cater to their whims.
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Their xxx days "same as cash" sales/financing is done by the manufacturer; Fry's gets this as "money in the bank" from the manufacturer when the merchandise leaves the store. On some products the vendor does not get paid until the item is sold.
The Roman Rule: The one who says it cannot be done shall not interrupt the one who is doing it.
We've had Sony Stores in Canada for a long time. I remember purchasing my first good discman there over 7 years ago as a teenager. They tend to be pricier than Walmart/FutureShop/BestBuy because Sony charges the strict MSRP so as to not compete with their web store. They also sell extended warranties but I have had a very good experience with them. They farm out the repair jobs to a local shop but they don't give you a hard time at all.
The one thing that sucks just like every other store, is that the clerks tend to not know what they're doing. You'd think in a Sony store the guy would know everything about Sony's products but really he's no better than the kid working at BestBuy for 7.50/hr. Last time I went there, the guy couldn't tell me the difference between the 100$ cd player and the 500$ cd player. Sorry fella, but I want to know about read errors, skew/jitter, seek time, digital outputs.. I mean the guy does nothing else all day might as well learn about the stuff he sells. But it's no worse than what you'll see in any megastore or even radio shack.
-Billco, Fnarg.com
Please. Fry's is pulling in crazy dough. I don't think they're at all screwed by any manufacturer if their parking lot is full nearly EVERY DAMN NIGHT (yeah, that's sad that I can verify that. ;P ). Here's what I do:
1. Wait for the Friday Fry's ad.
2. If there's something that looks good, first check techbargains.com and pricegrabber.com for comparable items or better prices.
3. If I need to take a look at it, then regardless of price, I'll go to Fry's and take a look.
4. If Fry's is better, I'll stand in line like another geek sheep and get it. If not, just go home and get it online (works well if the rebate is a national one, not one that's just at Fry's).
P.S. one tip for all of you buying stuff from fry's; MAKE SURE YOU BUY SOMETHING THAT DOESNT EVEN REMOTELY LOOK RETURNED. Obviously look for the return tags (look on all sides of the box, as I found one time when it was on the bottom of the box of a bulky box), but I stay away from boxed items that they even have a little more scratches on them. If any seal looks played with, don't get it. You don't want to play the return game with Fry's if at all possible.
0- Eamonman Proud member of DNRC