 "Sony to tap rural TV market with small screen units")
The company, which has launched affordable range of panels of 22-inch size last year in order to tap tier II, III & IV markets, has expanded its sales network to over 10,000 distributors to cash in on the opportunities.
"Last year, Sony had launched its first 22-inch product, aiming to adapt those upcountry area, which was quite successful.
"Now, we have 24-inch also. 22-inch and 24-inch TV could really cultivate the upcountry market... Those are the big markets," Sony India Managing Director Kenichiro Hibi told PTI.
Elaborating on the potential of smaller towns and villages in the country, Hibi said, "If we look at the country side, customers are going for their first LCD TV but due to budget issues, can not afford big screens. So, they are going for smaller entry range of 22-inch TVs."
Presently, Sony has two TV models each in 22 and 24-inch categories with the price going up to Rs 17,900.
The company's Bravia range of TVs starts from Rs 13,900 and goes up to Rs 16.99 lakh.
Over Sony's Xperia range of mobile phones, Hibi said that the segment needs to be improved by strengthening its portfolio.
"Sony has a big room to grow in the market (handset) as our market share is only 10 per cent in this segment as compared to 30 per cent of TV... There is big room for improvement... First, we are strengthening our portfolio, suitable to the Indian customers and strengthening its distribution," he said.
Around 75 per cent of the company's revenue came from Bravia range of TVs and Xperia range of mobile handsets.
Moreover, Sony is also expecting that the market share of Alpha series of professional cameras would increase further.
It holds around 10 per cent market here presently.
When asked about the company's plans for the car audio segment, Hibi said that it is in talks with several auto firms.
"We are in talks with several car producing companies but there are lots of quality sync issues. It is not happening yet but we are talking with majority of the big brands," he added.
In addition to that, Sony is also trying to expand into two more categories - headphones and bluetooth speakers and mobile related accessories.
"Countries like USA, Europe, Japan have a big market for them and India has still very small market. I do not say that it has no potential but it is not cultivated yet and it is growing," Hibi said, adding that Sony is trying to create and develop the market.
Sony has strengthened its distribution channel to 10,000 in FY14 for Xperia and 10,400 for Bravia. It was 5,000 and 8,000, respectively in FY13.
Apart from that, it has a network of about 300 Sony outlets.