SONY VAIOCase study

Problem

•Richard Lopez (product manager)

•Marketing plan presentation to senior management

•Struggle: too much data

•3 market research reports

•Which segment to choose ?

•Best plan for vaio in china

Introduction

•Sony corporation began in 1946

•Major player in multiple electronic markets

•171000 employees worldwide including japan, US, Europe and China.

•Total annual sales: $89 billion in March 2010

Product Details

•After handycam camcorders and Walkman personal stereo Sony introduced series of computer products in mid 1996.

•Vaio desktop

•Vaio laptops in Japan

Strategy for Vaio

•High end niche products

•Consumers who give top priority to style and design

•Competitor: unexciting designs

•Existing laptops: grays, blacks, boxy, bulky and heavy.

•Vaio 505 line (1998) gain significant awareness and recognition

•Positioned as “statement computer”

• “sleek”

•Available in colours (first production run)

• Iconic: rich purple

•Popular with image conscious people

•Focused on reducing weight and size

• Installed software providers

•Distinctive advantage: (multimedia software) computers were not likely to have

•Premium offering

•Higher avg selling price

•Kept away from attracting mass audience like others

•Outstripped desktops in late 2000’s

• Individual consumers and business professionals• Not suitable for businesses • China: moderate success • Replica • Copycats less successful imitating branding and

aesthetics•

Shanghai Report•Early 2010 research

•Education and income gaps, inequality among Chinese consumer gaps

•Low quality products and pirated softwares.

•Growing segment enjoyed status, money and technology

• “Detail oriented consumers”

•Post 1980’s generation were more status seeking and powerful

•50% laptop owners

•75% desktop owners

•Male laptop owners 57%

•36% of laptop buyers are between 25-34

•Upper class 46%

Customer interviews

•40 vaio users and 4 non-sony users

•Self expression

•Lenovo vs. sony

•Consumers sought knowledge and advice from family and friends

• “Meaningless information”

1- some used laptop for social connection

2- some used as a productive tool

3- Some used for everyday tasks, confused by extra features

4- (Growing segment) used it for multimedia. Eg: games, movies, shows and social media

CLUES report

•760 surveys (face to face and video conference)

•18 and 55 years of age

•Participants owned or were interested to purchase laptops

•Rate laptop and its characteristics

•Six segments of Chinese laptop users

•Entertainment Lover

•Business focused

•Family user

•Tech enthusiast

•Fashion oriented

•Heavy user

Project compass

•Cross company cross regional segmentation

•Global research

•30,000 respondents

•4000 participants from eight countries

•16-65 age

• Interested in any one: tv, digi cam, dvd player or audio system.

•Six global consumer segments

•Technosocializers

•Performance seekers

•Status focused

•Unfussy basics

•Functional socializers

•Quality of lifers

Solution

•Business professionals with high income.

•Customer interviews (target the growing segment)

•Clues (family users and business focused)

•Compass (technosocializers), (word of mouth)