Consumers appear to be walking away from Sony 4K UHD TV’s, despite the offer of a Sony PlayStation 4 console and a multi million dollar 2014 World Cup investment.
According to leaked GFK Australia data Sony in week 21 which is when they launched their PlayStation 4K TV offer had a 28.3% Ultra High Definition share, this has now slumped to 6.1% share in week 27.
Sony’s overall share of the TV market has also fallen from 14.9% in week 17 to 12.3% last week.
This is a bitter blow for Sony who has been trying to rebuild market share in the TV market.
GFK research shows that the two brands that have picked up TV market share from Sony are Samsung and LG.
Recently Sony who are wallowing from billions in losses, said that they intend to spin off their TV business and concentrate on high quality 4K screens up against the likes of Samsung, LG and Panasonic.
For years the Sony TV division has been what one analyst called a “basket case” due to their failure to be competitive.
Sony has no facility to make their own TV like Samsung and LG do due to massive factory and people cuts. As a result Sony has found itself forced to buy in components from the likes of Samsung and Sharp who recently handed over one of their main TV display panel plants to Apple for the production of display screens.
Sharp like Sony are also struggling to grow market share in Australia.
Buying in panels from other manufacturers has seriously impacted Sony costs and profitability just at the time when it needed to be really competitive to gain market share.
Globally high production costs and a strong Yen meant that Sony simply couldn’t compete and in 2011 it saw a massive 24% drop in TV sales in 2012 and 2013 sales slumped even further.
Sony thought they had a secret weapon with their Sony X-Reality Pro engine that the Company claimed offered better noise reduction and a big boost in picture quality.
Sony also developed a new range of new Triluminos Displays that the company claimed delivered more natural colours and a much wider colour gamut on screen.
At the same time, the aesthetics of its TV’s were overhauled to bring them into line with those from Samsung and LG.
As result of its restructuring in both the PC and TV businesses, Sony expects to lay off around 5,000 employees by the end of the financial year.
Domestically Sony knows it has a struggle to regain the stranglehold it once had in the TV market the downturn in 4K Ultra-HD and 2K high-definition TV’s coupled with a weaker Yen does not look good for the Japanese Company.
