After the rapid growth in 2016 and 2017 for two consecutive fiscal years, Sony China continued to set aggressive financial targets in FY 2018. Sony’s sales in the first quarter of FY1818 in the Chinese market grew by more than 10% year-on-year.
Gao Qiyang, senior vice president of Sony Group, chairman and president of Sony (China), said on August 16 that Sony has continued its record high in FY2017, in the first quarter of FY 2018 (April to June this year) Maintaining performance growth, sales revenue reached 1,953.6 billion yen, up 5% year-on-year; operating profit rose 24% to 195 billion yen.
Among them, Sony's home entertainment and audio business played an important role, sales revenue increased by 6% year-on-year to 272.1 billion yen, and operating profit was 17.4 billion yen. TV sales and home music, video product sales revenue increased to become this business Important factors for growth. At present, color TV is still one of the leading companies in Sony's business expansion. On the same day, Sony released four new OLED TV and LCD TV products.
China is one of Sony's most important markets in the world. According to data from Zhongyikang, Sony's color TV business has grown against the Chinese market in the first half of this year. In the first half of 2018, sales in the domestic color TV market fell 5.9% year-on-year, while Sony The retail sales of color TVs in the Chinese market increased by 18.1% year-on-year in the first half of this year.
Sony's consumer electronics business strategy has been adjusted for seven or eight years. In recent years, the high-end strategy has been successful, not only turning a profit, but also capturing the high-end market through OLED TV. In April this year, Sony President and CEO Yoshida Kenichiro took over the predecessor. Hirai Kazuo's high-end strategy.
Peng Xiandong, general manager of Zhongyikang Consumer Electronics Division, told the First Financial Reporter that the domestic OLED TV market is mainly dominated by Sony and Skyworth. At the end of last year, Skyworth accounted for 40% to 50% of the retail sales of the domestic OLED TV market. Share, and in June of this year, Sony's sales share in China's OLED TV market has risen to more than 50%.
From the demand point of view, the domestic color TV market is weak, but the large screen, the proportion of high-end products is increasing. From the competition point of view, Sharp takes the cost-effective route, and constantly expands market share, but the focus on the high-end market is relatively weak; and Samsung is driven by mobile phone sales in the Chinese market. The impact of the downturn, China's color TV sales have not been able to boost. Therefore, Sony this time launched a series of high-end OLED and LCD products, to consolidate the high-end market position.
Peng Xiandong said that during the trough, Sony's color TV share in the Chinese market was only about 3%, and has recently rebounded to 5% to 6%. Sony does not blindly pursue sales volume, focus on products and profits, to maintain the brand, Yoshida Kenichiro continued. This route of Hirai Kazuo.
Compared with the European and American markets, the promotion of OLED TV in the Chinese market is not smooth. According to Zhong Yikang's data, in the first half of 2018, the retail penetration of OLED TVs in China's color TV market was 1.7%, but this is compared with the same period last year. It has doubled growth; the figure for the first half of 2017 was 0.8%, and the figure for the first half of 2016 was 0.1%.
Lu Jianbo, deputy secretary-general of the China Electronics Chamber of Commerce, told the First Financial Reporter that this year OLED has established its position as the industry's most mature and promising next-generation new display technology. No matter how small or small OLED screens are on high-end smartphones. Applications, or the promotion of OLED TVs, have grown rapidly.