Sony India to tap festive season, to raise CTV, audio sales

“We have an aggressive target,“ says Sony India managing director Teruo Ishii. During the festival season, Ishii hopes to sell over 75,000 CTVs and 50,000 audio systems. The company is also planning to launch new CTV and audio ranges. For the whole year, the company hopes to sell over 2.5 lakh CTVs and 1.2 lakh audio systems.

“Both these segments are very important for us,“ says Ishii. Fifty-five per cent of the company's Rs 600-crore turnover is derived from selling CTVs, while the audio units contribute 20 per cent sales of imported products like car audios, handycam, DVD and mobile phones, with play stations and others chips contributing to the rest.

Speaking about the CTV market, Ishii says: “Nearly 65 per cent of the consumer durable market is dominated by CTVs. Last year, the market saw sales of 5.3 million CTVs. This year the expectation is 6.5 million units.“

Seventy-five per cent of the total CTV sales consist of 20/21-inch models, while premium models manufactured by companies like Sony India occupy the remaining market space. Between 20- and 21-inch segments, the former enjoys a share of 40 per cent.

“The popular 20/21-inch CTV market witnesses severe price wars and we don't want to enter the fray. We will focus on the niche area by introducing new models,“ says Ishii. Sony India will introduce four new large-screen CTV models and one 21-inch model.

In the metros and other large Indian cities, the trend is in favour flat/large screen CTVs. In order to cash on the trend Sony India has introduced two new flat-screen models in the 21 inch-and the 29-inch category, priced at Rs 18,990 and Rs 41,900, respectively.