Who would have thought that a single chart (which can be seen above) would so elegantly paint a portrait on why Sony continues to shy away from any meaningful initiative in the US and why the company is struggling so much? While territories like China and India are continuing to grow and in turn, are becoming very important for tech companies, they’ve traditionally been a target for more entry-level products which bring in far less profits.

The US has been a haven for companies to bring premium products and as a nation that prides itself on consumption, it provides the perfect balance of income, population, and infrastructure to support cutting edge products. Unfortunately for Sony, the US is their smallest territory in sales.

Shown in an an investor document, the chart shows that, despite the influence of the US, Sony holds little sales in the country. This chart equally reflects the status of Sony’s market in the US or lack there where we hardly ever see Sony commercials (excluding PlayStation) and little carrier support.

In fact, even when you go shopping at retailers like Costco or Best Buy, chances are that you see other brands emphasized over Sony, be it in their weekly ads or in store. For Sony, it’s a bit of a catch 22. They have little carrier support for their mobile division and nearly no marketing (excluding social media) due to the low sales and because of the low sales, carriers have little incentive to work with Sony or for the company to invest a ton of money in the region.

Interestingly enough, Europe, which, compared to other territories, is the closest to the US, enjoys the most healthy sales for Sony. In fact, we quite often see additional televisions released in Europe where Sony also deploys a healthy marketing strategy. I’d be curious to find out how Sony over the last two decades has continued to stay relevant in Europe while they’ve clearly fallen in the US.

Much like in Europe now, Sony in the 80’s and 90’s enjoyed a healthy marketshare in the US and their name was ubiquitous with premium and cutting edge products. With the transition from hardware to software and analog to digital, Sony started to fall behind and has struggled globally. However, the effects of their struggle can be seen far more clearly in the US.

Discuss:

Do you think Sony is making a mistake by emphasizing little resources to recapture mindshare and marketshare in the US, or should they focus their efforts in other countries/territories where they’re enjoying more success like Japan and Europe?