On March 30th, Sony kicked off what will be a year-long endeavor to rebrand the company’s retail stores and experience. Sony, who currently operates 27 retail stores in North America and more worldwide, unveiled not a concept store but a fully functional Sony retail outlet that will be the basis of all future stores and old ones. During our conversation with Sony’s Executive Vice President, Mike Fasulo, it was clear that Sony’s goal is to expand the Sony retail experience to many new stores, while also converting existing stores to this new layout which he hopes the company will complete by the end of 2011.

Fasulo, who joined Sony in 1984 as a junior financial analyst, has seen the company go through many different phases and he stressed that this is their most important shift yet. Part of the rebranding will be to make Sony simpler for the consumer. Unlike Apple, who enjoys a singular brand and experience, Sony has been a bahamut, with brands ranging from Sony Electronics to Sony Pictures, Sony Music/BMG, PlayStation, and Sony Style, which are the key branches, each which have many sub brands under them. This means that Sony’s retail outlets, currently called Sony Style, will now simply be called Sony. Though not in place yet, consumers simply need to visit Sony.com where they will find the destination of their choice (though each individual brand will still have their own dedicated site like PlayStation). By simply having Sony.com be the key domain for all things Sony, and having Sony retail stores simply called Sony, Fasulo and other execs hope that this simplified image will resonate better with consumers and create one compelling name and destination.

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Of course, a name change can only go so far, and clearly the team at Sony has long been studying the changing retail landscape, which is very apparent in their new store design. One would have to be blind to not see the resemblance between the new Sony retail experience and the Apple retail stores. In fact, Sony’s new retail store is heavily influenced by Apple which kicked off this new way to shop nearly 10 years ago, and you know what? That’s ok. You see, it’s better for a company to say, “Hey, those guys were onto something. Lets see what we can learn from it and what we can improve on it” instead of sticking their head in the sand and pretending that the retail idea of 1999 is still relevant and that consumer expectations haven’t changed in the years since.

For anybody who has previously visited a ‘Sony Style’ store, you will surely note that they were beautiful stores to be in, especially when compared to retail giants like Walmart and Best Buy. The Sony stores in fact had a very high-class feel to them with stone designs, low lighting, premium aroma throughout (not making that up), but they lacked something. This is especially apparent in Topanga Shopping Center, an upscale mall not too far from our office, where at the bottom floor is a Sony Style store and directly across and above is an Apple store. Both companies have a large retail floor  and both are catering to the same would-be buyer. The only difference is that the Apple store is buzzing with shoppers while the Sony store is empty. This was a topic that had bothered me before and I couldn’t quite figure it out until Mr. Fasulo himself brought it up. The new store strategy for Sony doesn’t simply employ colors, bright lights and an open atmosphere with all the products out in the open for the sake of being modern; instead it subconsciously encourages people to pick up, play, and interact with the device in front of them. That’s when it kicked in for me as well. Current Sony stores might have people on alert with their upscale feel and inadvertently, turn away would-be buyers, families and teens. Throw in the mix that many of the products like cameras and camcorders are in glass cases, which an employee needs to unlock to hand them to you, and you can quickly see why many shoppers might not just float into them. Now when you walk into a new Sony store, you can easily see the entire store and all the products, and navigate to the destination that interests you while hopefully catching a glimpse of something new on your way there.

That right there is plenty for a company to admit to and change, but Sony did not stop there. The team behind this new retail initiative wanted to take things one step further. Being what I call “digital retail stores,” the new Sony stores are extremely wired in and up-to-date. Those large lit up columns you see with the built-in screens which display different Sony products can have their banner changed in just minutes, making sure that the retail store can always stay up to date with the latest event and theme that Sony is promoting. Of course, those digital screens speak for themselves, simply running off a server which makes the task of changing the displayed content even easier. One cool little tip: If you are wondering what Song is currently being played throughout the store, just look at the bottom of those columns you will spot a “Now Playing” marquee which indicated the artist and song title. Oh yea, those giant columns can also be moved around, helping change the design and feel of each store by simply being pushed.

Another noteworthy thing about this new retail experience is how product information is displayed. Each table, which is designated as a zone, will not only display all relevant product information for the product that it surrounds, but will also display specific reviews, accessories and titles that will complement that product. Still, what really stole the show for me was how the TVs displayed product information. While you used to have to walk up to the display and look around it for a small card with size, information and price, each TV on the bottom right corner will now display on-screen the price, series, 3D capabilities, resolution, hertz, and size. This means that while you are looking at the Bravia series, which are displayed on the wall, to compare or simply view the quality of their picture, you are also taking in additional information which will hopefully help with your retail experience and purchase. And speaking of purchasing, though there was no mention if an Apple-like mobile payment system being implemented in these stores, we did learn that each table will house products directly underneath it, insuring that once a customer was ready to purchase, a Sony employee would simply need to unlock the designated kiosk and hand them the product, without ever having to leave the customer. Of course, this doesn’t work for all products like surround sound systems and televisions.

What do you think of the new Sony stores? Let us know. We will have plenty more to write and discuss for you in the upcoming days, including my exclusive interview with Sony VP, Mike Fasulo, in which we discussed his views on a potential Sony tablet and Sony’s new marketing strategy.