Sony closing down?

[canon1dxman]

Sony closed several shops in the UK some years back and franchised others. A wise move.

Sony is incredibly strong in the pro video market so I expect them to continue, just realigning their business model.

 

[Bennymiata]

Sony used to have a number of stores in Sydney 5 or 10 years ago, but they've all closed too.
They used to make some great products like the CD players that held 200 or 400 disks and could be programmed via your PC for parties or events.
All their stuff nowadays is very ho hum and often too expensive compared to their competition.

All companies wax and wane, it's the ones that bounce back that can survive.

 

[leGreve]

Sony isn't going anywhere, they just finally realised that you can't run brand name stores... it's business smart to let the retailers handle the sales instead.

I'm even more amazed that Apple stores in fx. Denmark still exist. They hardly make any money, because Apple have certain standards to how the stores are equipped, but the store owners have to pay for this design themselves as well as the courses for the employees to be able to serve Apple.

 

[Tugela]

Sony has already stopped making laptops....

They announced today that they are closing all their retail outlets (The Sony Store) in Canada.

This is "interesting" behavior and does not make me confident about their future. It looks a lot more like a company that is shutting down than a "market leader"

The closing of their retail outlets is a way of admitting that the goal to emulate Apple (in the consumer space) has failed.

Sony doesn't have the cachet that Apple does and were selling products profitably before they adopted that model and I'm sure they'll continue to sell after.

Are they "shutting down"? I don't think so.

Sony had stores long before Apple did.

 

[Khnnielsen]

Sony well be around for a long time. As long as they keep having such strong position in the pro-video and broadcast market, then it can't be all doom and gloom. .

 

[Jamesy]

Sony has already stopped making laptops....

They announced today that they are closing all their retail outlets (The Sony Store) in Canada.

This is "interesting" behavior and does not make me confident about their future. It looks a lot more like a company that is shutting down than a "market leader"

Target leaving Canada, to close all 133 stores, lay off 17,600 workers. From todays Los Angeles Times http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-target-leaving-canada-20150115-story.html

Maybe Canada is a bad place for brick-and-mortar stores. Could it be possible that Amazon, etc are killing local business even faster in Canada than in the USA ???

It's not hard for me to envision a future with no local retail, except Big Box stores (Costco, Sam's Club) and Online Super Stores (like Amazon). A place without B&H and Adorama, because the camera companies sell direct to consumers online.

Target has been a lame duck in Canada since they arrive. They failed to properly understand the nature of our retail market here and subsequent course corrections unfortunately were too little too late.

I think bricks and mortar will become the exception rather than the norm (in many market segments) eventually. How many of us have gone to check out something at a B+M location only to pop on over to B+H or Adorama or Amazon and buy it from there? I have and I am sure most of you have too.

 

[tcmatthews]

Sony has already stopped making laptops....

They announced today that they are closing all their retail outlets (The Sony Store) in Canada.

This is "interesting" behavior and does not make me confident about their future. It looks a lot more like a company that is shutting down than a "market leader"

Target leaving Canada, to close all 133 stores, lay off 17,600 workers. From todays Los Angeles Times http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-target-leaving-canada-20150115-story.html

Maybe Canada is a bad place for brick-and-mortar stores. Could it be possible that Amazon, etc are killing local business even faster in Canada than in the USA ???

It's not hard for me to envision a future with no local retail, except Big Box stores (Costco, Sam's Club) and Online Super Stores (like Amazon). A place without B&H and Adorama, because the camera companies sell direct to consumers online.

Target has been a lame duck in Canada since they arrive. They failed to properly understand the nature of our retail market here and subsequent course corrections unfortunately were too little too late.

I think bricks and mortar will become the exception rather than the norm (in many market segments) eventually. How many of us have gone to check out something at a B+M location only to pop on over to B+H or Adorama or Amazon and buy it from there? I have and I am sure most of you have too.

And yet the opposite is also true. A few times I have found my self go to Amazon check a price then go to Adorama and B+H. After comparing price difference be tax and no tax check I would check availability at my local Best Buy. Some times it is the same as Amazon some times it is less. Given Amazon now collects state taxes there is no reason not to drive to Best Buy to pick it up after work.

The big issue with Big Box stores selling electronics is the nature of electronics retail. In general most electronics are highly commoditized rapidly depreciating product. Especially true of consumer electronics. The margins are slim and you have to move product fast or soon your value will be higher average street price. Before the internet Big Box retailers could keep prices up longer(holding margins). Now the internet retailers will undercut them. With the internet you can sell to a wider group of customers. You have lower overhead so you can sustain lower margins. Becoming known as a retailer of out of date over priced electronics is a death sentence. I remember going to the Circuit City when it was going out of business. I needed a TV I found the TV I wanted it was marked down 75% it was still $150 more than Best Buy and $250 more than Frys electronics.

As for Sony shutting down there retail outlets. That has been expected for a while now. They have been killed in TV, Cell phones, and nobody but Apple is making money on computers. Do they really need all that money tied up in retail locations if they stop selling computers, and TVs. They are scrubbing there audio products of money losing products.

Sony owning a retail outlet was a conflict of interest. If they cut the price to move products as needed in consumer electronics they would undercut retailers selling their product. So they kept things priced at MSRP. Nobody is going to pay MSRP if they do not have to. So the Sony stores could not move product.

 

[Don Haines]

Sony has already stopped making laptops....

They announced today that they are closing all their retail outlets (The Sony Store) in Canada.

This is "interesting" behavior and does not make me confident about their future. It looks a lot more like a company that is shutting down than a "market leader"

Target leaving Canada, to close all 133 stores, lay off 17,600 workers. From todays Los Angeles Times http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-target-leaving-canada-20150115-story.html

Maybe Canada is a bad place for brick-and-mortar stores. Could it be possible that Amazon, etc are killing local business even faster in Canada than in the USA ???

It's not hard for me to envision a future with no local retail, except Big Box stores (Costco, Sam's Club) and Online Super Stores (like Amazon). A place without B&H and Adorama, because the camera companies sell direct to consumers online.

Target has been a lame duck in Canada since they arrive. They failed to properly understand the nature of our retail market here and subsequent course corrections unfortunately were too little too late.

I think bricks and mortar will become the exception rather than the norm (in many market segments) eventually. How many of us have gone to check out something at a B+M location only to pop on over to B+H or Adorama or Amazon and buy it from there? I have and I am sure most of you have too.

And yet the opposite is also true. A few times I have found my self go to Amazon check a price then go to Adorama and B+H. After comparing price difference be tax and no tax check I would check availability at my local Best Buy. Some times it is the same as Amazon some times it is less. Given Amazon now collects state taxes there is no reason not to drive to Best Buy to pick it up after work.

The big issue with Big Box stores selling electronics is the nature of electronics retail. In general most electronics are highly commoditized rapidly depreciating product. Especially true of consumer electronics. The margins are slim and you have to move product fast or soon your value will be higher average street price. Before the internet Big Box retailers could keep prices up longer(holding margins). Now the internet retailers will undercut them. With the internet you can sell to a wider group of customers. You have lower overhead so you can sustain lower margins. Becoming known as a retailer of out of date over priced electronics is a death sentence. I remember going to the Circuit City when it was going out of business. I needed a TV I found the TV I wanted it was marked down 75% it was still $150 more than Best Buy and $250 more than Frys electronics.

As for Sony shutting down there retail outlets. That has been expected for a while now. They have been killed in TV, Cell phones, and nobody but Apple is making money on computers. Do they really need all that money tied up in retail locations if they stop selling computers, and TVs. They are scrubbing there audio products of money losing products.

Sony owning a retail outlet was a conflict of interest. If they cut the price to move products as needed in consumer electronics they would undercut retailers selling their product. So they kept things priced at MSRP. Nobody is going to pay MSRP if they do not have to. So the Sony stores could not move product.

exactly!

It looks like they are taking a logical look at the business and restructuring. Brick and mortar seems to be closing down.. Laptops are gone. Tablets are being promoted. Cameras are being promoted.

My bet is that in a few years Sony will be a much smaller company, but better focused. It will be interesting to see what stays and what goes.

 

[Maui5150]

Sony pictures had their screw up with the interview, but that should not hurt them that badly.

Are you serious? With all the emails, salary and other information that was released? Not only have they burned a lot of Hollywood bridges with the talent, they are facing privacy and protection lawsuits fallout that will continue for years.

Comments like "“I believe that the international motion picture audience is racist — in general pictures with an African American lead don’t play well overseas"

Yeah - that is really going to help Sony's reputation

Getting a return on their money for "The Interview" is the least of their worries with all the emails and info that was released

 

[jdramirez]

I suppose I was referencing the lack of box office receipts, there are big budget clunkers all the time.... But you usually account for that .

The rest is mostly embarrassing... So shay if Angelina jolie didn't make another movie for them... there is always talent wanting to make a film...

And the black lead, doesn't make it not true. It is the world's they do international business in.

Sony pictures had their screw up with the interview, but that should not hurt them that badly.

Are you serious? With all the emails, salary and other information that was released? Not only have they burned a lot of Hollywood bridges with the talent, they are facing privacy and protection lawsuits fallout that will continue for years.

Comments like "“I believe that the international motion picture audience is racist — in general pictures with an African American lead don’t play well overseas"

Yeah - that is really going to help Sony's reputation

Getting a return on their money for "The Interview" is the least of their worries with all the emails and info that was released

 

[rfdesigner]

Sony Semiconductor (Basingstoke UK) were a customer of mine about 12 years ago.. pretty big site, all gone now as much of it was mobile phones and that market is now just commodity, minimal RF development, a bit of a shame really, they should have moved into multi-GHz tech as that's really taking off. Their image sensors lead the field in smaller astro cameras (very very low noise), the Kodak sensors usually feature in bigger cams and E2V/Site are in the top end gear.

As with any multinational it's a curate's egg...

 

[dickgrafixstop]

Mr. Morita would be turning over in his grave if he could see the mess his successors have made at Sony.
They make outstanding professional television lenses, but rely on Zeiss to provide good glass for their
cameras. With the exception of the new A series full frame cameras, the last years have provided one mediocre offer after another. They coasted on Minolta's start with the purchase, then lost their way completely in cameras. With the overall Sony corporations financials, I wouldn't be surprised to see them dump cameras as completely as they did personal computers.

 

[adventureous]

I watched the interview at no cost, and wanted my money back. Horrible.

 

[Oldcracker]

Brick and mortar retail everywhere is in a pickle. Better to leave the brick and mortar sales to retail specialists, and concentrate on their main business of engineering and manufacturing electronics.

+1

If brick & mortar is in a pickle, someone should tell Apple. The last time I saw a per square foot sales figure and comparison, Apple's was the highest in the U.S. if not the entire world. Their sales are between $6,000 and $4,500/sq.ft, depending on what the information source is. Tiffany's is a distant second. Granted, Apple may be a special case in a way, as they have no nationwide sales outlets outside of their stores and Best Buy. The few remaining independent resellers are not a big slice of their pie. While others (and I) may have legitimate gripes with them, the intentional dumbing down of OS X to IOS levels and the system slowing (yippee!) free Yosemite up(down)grade not the only significant ones, they are not making any visible mis-steps in their retail store strategy or its implementation.

Brick and mortar still provides somewhere in the neighborhood of 94% of all retail sales, so to say it's on the way out is a bit disingenuous. Photography buffs, professional or amateur, are a little different in outlook because we already are very familiar with and/or informed about the items about which we're interested.

To be sure, online ordering of goods and services is expanding every day, but it will in no way become the dominant way we buy things. Want to see the difference between two colors of your next car? Would you trust that decision to the internet or your own vision in person, in the sunlight? If you wear glasses, are you going to order them online? You can, I'll pass. There are tons of various examples. In the end, my opinion is that Sony's problems have been of its own making, not due to "bricks and mortar is dead".

 

[c.d.embrey]

Sony owning a retail outlet was a conflict of interest.

When Sony started their camera division, many B & M Camera stores Would Not stock Sony cameras. They thought that Sony Stores were unfair competition. They though that Sony Stores would be the first to get new product, and that Sony Stores could stock deep. This is not supposition, I talk to several local camera stores back then.

Now most of the B & M camera stores are gone. Large chains (Calumet, most Ritz) and Mom & Pops as well.

 

[c.d.embrey]

Sam's Club was closed down in Canada in 2009

Sam's Clubs are still killing local retail stores in the USA. Almost impossible to find a parking space at SoCal Sam's Clubs.

BTW Costco and Sam's Clubs sell meat and green groceries, not jus 5 gallon bottles of pickles. And some Super Market chains are closing down stores in SoCal (Albertsons, Ralphs).

 

[Oldcracker]

Sam's Club was closed down in Canada in 2009

Sam's Clubs are still killing local retail stores in the USA. Almost impossible to find a parking space at SoCal Sam's Clubs.

BTW Costco and Sam's Clubs sell meat and green groceries, not jus 5 gallon bottles of pickles. And some Super Market chains are closing down stores in SoCal (Albertsons, Ralphs).

Sam's Club and Costco are "brick and mortar" retailers for the most part, even though they're discounters. Great prices on a THIN selection in most specialty goods areas such as cameras and electronics (at least in the physical stores).

 

[c.d.embrey]

Wet Seal Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a week after it closed two-thirds of its locations and laid off thousands ...Wet Seal to close 338 stores, lay off nearly 3,700 employees ...The retailer now has 173 locations and its online business. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-wet-seal-bankruptcy-20150116-story.html

For those of you not familiar with Wet Seal http://www.wetseal.com they are a young women's clothing retailer.

The world of retail is changing.

 

[jdramirez]

We all are the free speech business... We all have an obligation to protect free speech. I paid money... The movie was ok... not great... not awful.... some memorable moments... And I'm happy to have laid in lieu of allowing cyber terrorism to prevail.

I watched the interview at no cost, and wanted my money back. Horrible.

 

[c.d.embrey]

Sam's Club and Costco are "brick and mortar" retailers for the most part, even though they're discounters. Great prices on a THIN selection in most specialty goods areas such as cameras and electronics (at least in the physical stores).

There is more to life than "cameras and electronics." Much more.

When I go into a Costco I buy Books, Clothing, Drugs/first aid and Food. I've stopped buying T-shirts at JCPennys, which is my point. Big Box stores are damaging local retail, and Adorama, Amazon and B&H are damaging local camera stores. The loss of Calumet was the loss of a good rental store for me. I'm not going to rent Profoto packs from B&H who is 3,000 miles from me.