Japanese?consumer electronics giant Sony Corp. said
Wednesday it expected annual sales within China to grow 60 percent
to US$1.6 billion in the year to March, exceeding its own target
"by a large margin."
"This is despite the chilling effect of the SARS virus last
year. Our recovery since then was pretty impressive," Sony China
Chairman Kei Kodera said.
Sales in China have been driven by brisk demand for digital
cameras and other electronic goods.
In China's rapidly expanding and highly competitive digital
camera market, Sony has a 30 percent share despite fierce price
competition from domestic makers.
By 2008, when Beijing will host the Olympic Games, the company
aims to boost its sales in China to around US$9 billion, up from
US$1 billion in the year to March 2003. China sales represented
less than two percent of Sony's total revenue in the last business
year.
Sony, which has invested about US$800 million in China over the
last decade, also aimed to quadruple exports from its Chinese
operations to one trillion yen (US$9.24 billion) by 2008/09
compared with 2002/03, Kodera said.
Although brisk sales of Cybershot digital still cameras, Vaio
personal computers and video camcorders are pushing up its Chinese
sales, it will have to wait a little longer to see a substantial
boosting effect from its PlayStation 2 game console due to limited
software availability.
Sony launched the blockbuster game console earlier this year in
some Chinese cities, including Shanghai, braving concerns about
rampant piracy that has plagued the vast potential market.
In the area of product marketing and distribution, Sony has no
plan to form ties with Chinese manufacturers, Kodera said.
Rival Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. is in a business
alliance with major Chinese electronics maker TCL Holdings Ltd, and
utilizes TCL's sales network to sell its products in rural areas of
China.
Also, Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd., Japan's third-largest consumer
electronics maker, is cooperating with Hai'er Group to sell each
other's products in Japan and China, leaving investors wondering if
Sony intends to go it alone in the vast nation.
Sony will instead actively cooperate with dealers, agents and
other sales representatives as its Chinese sales expand, he
said.
(Shenzhen Daily February 28, 2004)