Introduction
Sony Corporation is a multination corporation with its headquarters based in Tokyo Japan. The corporation is deemed as the largest media firm as well as one of the leading manufacturer of technological products. The corporation has its name derived from the Greek goddess of sound perhaps explains the company’s involvement in entertainment products. Dynamic pricing is a spicing strategy in which the customers are divided into groups with different demand curves thus different prices being charged to each group. It is a price discrimination practice that has the potential of increasing the profits of a company in the sense that the company captures more customer surplus. Real-time data exchange is an analysis technology that is intended to offer developers with incessant bi-directional information swap in real time while negligible perturbation on the application is reported (Sony Global, 2010).
In this regard it enables the organization in question to effectively analyze its market based on real time information. Sony Corporation has a pricing strategy in which market segmentation is based on the use of its products and the targeted market. In this regard the application of real-time data exchange impacts the corporation’s pricing strategy b y enabling the corporation’s ability of segmenting the market. This is based on the fact that it offers the corporation adequate information on the market thus allowing segmentation based on the target customers as well as the use of the products they purchase. As such the pricing strategy of the corporation is indeed improved with the use of real-time data exchange. Segmented pricing makes up the pricing strategy of Sony Corporation (Knight, 2000).
This is based on the fact that the products that the corporation produces have different uses and are as well designed for different targeted customers. In this regard the pricing strategy of the corporation is influenced by the use that the particular product has and the market in which it is targeted. As such segmented pricing makes up the pricing strategy of the corporation based on the nature of its products and their use with different customers.
In respect to distribution channels, the focus of the corporation is availability of the products in adequate quantities at areas that are convenient to customers. The nature of the product influences the use of an exclusive, selective or intensive network of distribution. As such the corporation mainly uses selective distribution owing to its emphasis in selling durable and high quality products. In this regard the corporation uses a one-level distribution channel which is aimed at ensuring that it meets the needs and demands of its targeted the customers. This is based on the fact that the use of selective distribution on the one-level channel enables the corporation to offer certain features and benefits to its targeted customers (Sony Global, 2010).
However, intensive market coverage is as well applied in grey-markets in which the products lack some features and benefits offered by the corporation. In this strategy the market to be served is greater thus limiting the penetrating power of the corporation in offering such features and benefits. Such strategy enables the corporation to serve a greater market thus increasing its turnover rates. The use of affiliate marketing partners implies that the corporation uses marketing partners who serve as affiliate outlets of the corporation in the distribution of its products. This is highly advantageous to the corporation based on the fact that it suits the corporations pricing strategy (MBA Knowledge base, 2010). The rationale in this is the fact that it enables the corporation to segment its market while offering features and benefits to the different target markets it has.
The argument is that affiliate marketing partner’s favor the company’s marketing strategy by enabling it to segment the market based on the targeted customers while offering different features and benefits to the different target market segments. The corporation as well uses the zero-level distribution channel as well as the two-level distribution channel. With the zero-level distribution channel the corporation faces the advantage of segmented pricing based on the fact that it deals directly with the customers. This enables the corporation to segment the customers based on the nature of the products they purchase as well as their purchasing power. The distribution channel as well enables the corporation to offer features and benefits to its targeted customers (MBA Knowledge base, 2010).
The two-level distribution channel enables the corporation to serve greater markets in which intensive marketing coverage is emphasized. This enables the corporation to serve its targeted market which is based on the purchasing potential of the market. As such the products that the corporation offers in such channels have basic uses and in most cases lack features and benefits offered by the corporation in other channels.
Sony Corporation participates in massive advertisement of its products through the use of the media which is intended to increase the awareness of its targeted market. In this regard the corporation has highly used the television in its advertising campaign. As such the corporation targets televisions programs that are favorable while making the advertisements while it also has a television channel in its advertisement. The corporation also uses events that attract a huge turnout to make its advertisements. Such include beauty pageants as well as sporting events. The corporation as well uses other forms of media such as newspapers in its advertising campaigns in its quest of increasing the awareness of its target markets (Knight, 2000). These are avenues that the corporation uses to increase the awareness of its website by offering it as an alternative that the market can refer to for added information on the products it has in the market. The corporation as well creates awareness of its website through the use of search engines by enlisting its website and the features that it offers. This enables many prospective customers to learn of the website and the services that it offers thus increasing their product awareness.
The role of the customer service is ensuring that the needs and demands of the customers are met efficiently and effectively. In this regard it receives the needs and demands of the customers thus influencing the products that the corporation makes. Based on the fact that the needs and demands of the customers are liable to change the corporation requires a system that enables the corporation to have real-time information on the customers. This is made possible through the internet in the sense that the internet enables the customers to offer their feedback regarding the products that the corporation has to offer. As such the use of the internet in the corporation’s customer service enhances the corporation ability in gathering information on the customer’s needs and demands. The underlying argument is the fact that the internet enables the corporation to serve its customers effectively and efficiently by increasing the corporation’s ability in offering immediate feedback to its customers (Knight, 2000).
Promoting a website offline requires the use of advertisement strategies that increase the awareness of the website among the targeted market. This is through the use of traditional advertising methods that offer the website as an alternative source of adequate information on the products offered by the corporation. The communication objective of Sony Corporation is the increase of customers awareness regarding the corporations existence and the products its offers. In this regard the corporation uses communication strategies that suit the nature of the products that it is offering to the market. It is an appropriate strategy based on the fact that the products that the corporation offers have different uses and attract different target markets. As such the communication objective of the corporation is the creation of awareness among the varied target markets (MBA Knowledge base, 2010). The website offers interest among the customers by offering the features that a product has as well as its advantages. This is as well coupled with promotion strategies that are aimed at increasing the customer’s expectation of the performance of the products. The fact that the website offers customers with options of purchasing the product increases the potential of the customers purchasing the products.
References
Sony Global. (2010). Corporate Information. Retrieved December 28, 2010 from <http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/CorporateInfo/>.
Knight, D. (2000). Sony’s PR War on Activists. Retrieved December 28, 2010 from <http://motherjones.com/environment/2000/09/sonys-pr-war-activists>.
MBA Knowledge base. (2010). Marketing Strategy of Sony Corporation. Retrieved December 28, 2010 from <http://www.mbaknol.com/management-case-studies/marketing-strategy- of-sony-corporation/>
