The slowdown in the economy notwithstanding, Sony India is looking to clock 17 per cent sales growth in West Bengal during this year’s festival season at around ₹350 crore. The company had clocked sales of around ₹300 crore during the festive period (typically between August and October) last year.

According to Sunil Nayyar, Managing Director, Sony India, the growth will be supported by the launch of new products, easy finance schemes, consumer promotional offers, and an aggressive marketing campaign.

Sony India has earmarked an investment of around ₹25 crore during the Durga Puja towards marketing activities in the West Bengal region. “The economic climate is a bit challenging, but that is for everybody. We have an interesting strategy (for the festival season) and we are looking to break the jinx of slowdown through several push and pull measures,” Nayyar told newspersons on the sidelines of a press conference to announce the launch of new products and consumer offers for Durga Puja.

Festival campaign

As a part of its festival campaign, the company will offer smart home kits as gift with select Bravia televisions. The kit will help customers control their home appliances by voice command using their Bravia Android television. The company is also offering finance schemes at no extra processing fee.

West Bengal accounts for around 10 per cent of Sony India’s total turnover. The company is expecting television sales in the State to grow by around 40 per cent during this festive period.

While there is no slowdown in the sale of white goods, industry insiders fear the current festival season might see a lukewarm response due to the drop in customer ability to spend.

Sony recently launched new products across categories, such as Bravia televisions, Alpha cameras and lenses, soundbars, party speakers, headphones and a Bluetooth speaker. Television, which accounted for nearly 80 per cent of its total sales, has now come down to 65 per cent. The share of digital imaging has been consistently rising and currently accounts for around 15 per cent of the total sales.

Digital imaging, which caters to a particular segment of customers, has not been impacted by the slowdown and has been witnessing an organic growth, he said.

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