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Even as retailers and brands leverage social media and digital marketing to deepen connections with consumers, Sony Electronics is making organizational changes that shift resources away from buying office support and toward shop front activities. These include taking an active role in sales training, merchandising, and other consumer-focused engagement initiatives in both their owned retail and partnered environments.
In a one-on-one interview, Phil Molyneux, Sony Electronics' president and COO, said that while working with buying offices at its retail partners for many years "has been extremely good" for the company, the need to understand the consumer on a deeper level became evident. For example, its new initiatives allow Sony to gain insight into why a consumer decided to buy one of its products or, more importantly, why they didn't.
"Having our own resources to complement those of our retail partners, in terms of salespeople, allows us to better explain the value of our products to consumers, and to give them a more compelling reason to commit," said Mr. Molyneux. "At the same time, we further the education of our retail partners' salespeople."
By directly gathering information beyond traditional POS data, Sony gains more-immediate feedback on features consumers may desire in the future, such as a higher zoom or faster shutter on a digital camera.
"Another benefit is that we get a real-time view of what's happening in the market in terms of the competitive landscape and changes in dynamic pricing, which flows back at the press of a button or through a phone call," said Mr. Molyneux. "By aggregating that data, we're able to move faster and react quicker in the market, ensuring that our momentum is kept up."
Mr. Molyneux said Sony has been communicating its new sales and merchandising initiatives with its third-party retailers over the last couple of months and the response has been positive.
"They get it and support it, and they're embracing the value," said Mr. Molyneux. "It hasn't come as a sudden shock to them, but as a predefined plan that we've built and considered them a part of, so it's a very positive movement for both sides. We're in a partnership and we have strong relationships with our retail partners. It's very important to discuss and collaborate and fine tune things together."