Sony Closing Two-Thirds of U.S. Sony Stores

[TomWiley]

I am waiting to see how many people in the threads predicting doom and gloom for the Xbox One actually come here and acknowledge that maybe they should be more concerned with whats going on in Sony's own house first. This is bad news, no matter how you try to spin it.

Well that's because most people don't realize that Sony's console is one of their last few successful products whereas Microsoft consoles stands for less than 3 percent of its revenue.

 

[fix-the-spade]

I agree but really those examples? Yes playstation is very profitable but walkman and sony mobile? i dont remember seeing anything done by them in like last 5 years. Sony entertainment would be a much better example as their movie division is actually one of the few doing good. Or how about using Sony Music as a good profitable example (altrough the music industry is messed up at its root so i dont like it anyway)

Sony sell more Smartphones than any other piece of hardware they make, $4.2 billion dollars worth last year. The trouble is that they are still somewhat paying for the buyout of Ericsson and half a decade poor management on that front pre 2011. Walkman doesn't do badly either, regardless of Apple they still sell a truck load of headphones and smaller MP3 players, especially sports ones (and it still has good global recognition).

The places they are really bleeding money are televisions, cameras and computers. Sony TV will be a wholly owned subsidiary by the year's end (and likely go bust shortly after) whilst Sony PC has been sold to some investors for almost nothing, Sony were rumoured to have lost almost a billion dollars on the PC division last year.

 

[Riff Moonraker]

I am waiting to see how many people in the threads predicting doom and gloom for the Xbox One actually come here and acknowledge that maybe they should be more concerned with whats going on in Sony's own house first. This is bad news, no matter how you try to spin it.

People hate Microsoft so much that they are willing to distort reality to make this see as something positive, just look at the comments quoting you. People excusing laying off a third of their workforce because "who needs a store anyway?" lol


Sony is losing on many fronts, their only successes have been the PS4, Sony music and to a lesser extent their xperia series.

People forget that when M$ fails, they have a comfy multi billion dollar cushion to land on, Sony not so much. They have already been beaten from making VAIO computers, I imagine that their Xperia series might not survive either, Their TV's are getting butchered by Samsung and LG. The company has tried to and failed to compete, so downsizing and focusing their efforts seems like the best course of action.

Also, there was the news that they were cutting employees from the studio that made God of War... that was somewhere around here yesterday, too.

To be honest and not attempting to spin anything I don't think this news is all that bad (well apart from the sacked staff), this is only based on my personal opinion that the Sony stores are unnecessary in the first place though. Other companies like Apple with their fanatical following do ok with their own retail chain but for Sony, just another electronics manufacturer amongst all the others it doesn't really give any advantage apart from not having to compete with other makers within a store. The prices are often worse than you can find elsewhere (in the UK stores at least) as well so that also loses them custom when their higher priced products are overpriced compared to the other retailers, if Sony simplify their product range and up their game so the products are more attractive in the first place (Sony phones and tablets are already superb) they will do just as well with other retailers both brick and mortar and online.

This would be true if this was an isolated incident, but as I explained above Sony is losing a lot of ground on many fronts, having to downsize a third of its workforce, selling an entire division and undergoing a partial merger with olympus to sell medical equipment. Along with 4 years of consecutive losses. They are in trouble, but will probably survive in a reduced capacity.

 

[Strazdas]

I agree but really those examples? Yes playstation is very profitable but walkman and sony mobile? i dont remember seeing anything done by them in like last 5 years. Sony entertainment would be a much better example as their movie division is actually one of the few doing good. Or how about using Sony Music as a good profitable example (altrough the music industry is messed up at its root so i dont like it anyway)

Sony sell more Smartphones than any other piece of hardware they make, $4.2 billion dollars worth last year. The trouble is that they are still somewhat paying for the buyout of Ericsson and half a decade poor management on that front pre 2011. Walkman doesn't do badly either, regardless of Apple they still sell a truck load of headphones and smaller MP3 players, especially sports ones (and it still has good global recognition).

The places they are really bleeding money are televisions, cameras and computers. Sony TV will be a wholly owned subsidiary by the year's end (and likely go bust shortly after) whilst Sony PC has been sold to some investors for almost nothing, Sony were rumoured to have lost almost a billion dollars on the PC division last year.

you are right, i guess i just wanst aware of the walkman produced items or the popularity of thier not that good smartphone. Yes, i know they sold off the PC part and us killing its TV division. Sigh, i still remember when sony TVs were considered a good idea, meanwhile i just purchased an LG monitor.....
but yeah, LG gone really nice lately, love thier products now.

 

[Keith K]

Valuable space that may now provide something valuable in return.