Sony's Catching Up With Matsushita in DVD Recorder Sales

by News Editor

Published on Dec 18, 2003 12:00 AM
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As reported by Susumu Muramatsu at Japan’s Nikkei Business Daily, Sony Corporation is catching up with competitors in the domestic DVD recorder market, 90% of which has been controlled by Matsushita Electric Industrial and two other firms. Sony began releasing its Sugoroku machines in October, and debuted its PSX models with game-playing capability on December 13. Sony is touting the low prices of its DVD recorders, which are about 30,000 yen cheaper than comparable models offered by other manufacturers.

The company learned from a report released by GfK Marketing Services Japan, that its share of the DVD recorder market reached the targeted 20% in early December. In fact, Sony products ranked first, second and fourth among top-selling DVD recorders between December 8 and 14.

The GfK survey covers 3,500 stores, or about two-thirds of the nation's retailers, but, since it does not include retailers affiliated with Matsushita or Hitachi Ltd., the market shares of Matsushita which sells the bulk of their products through affiliated retailers, tend to be slightly smaller than they actually are.

For two weeks between Dec. 1 and 14, Sony controlled 33.8% of the market, surpassing Matsushita's 27.3% share. However, the figure for Sony is only 4.3% between January and November. The company began doing well toward the end of this year as it released many new products targeting Christmas shoppers.

Between Jan. 1 and Dec. 14, however, Matsushita dominated the market with a 43.4% share, followed by Pioneer Corp. at 21.0% and Toshiba Corp. at 19.3%. The combined share of the three manufacturers was over 80%, and is estimated to exceed 90% when sales by retailers affiliated with Matsushita are included. Although Sony has not disclosed sales data on its PSX machines, its first shipments are believed to have sold out at many mass retailers. But some consumers complain that the equipment is less user-friendly compared with conventional audiovisual equipment, according to an official with a major retailer in Tokyo. Many of the consumers who purchased the PSX by Dec. 13 or 14, reserved the product in advance and are considered to be loyal Sony fans.

If an increasing number of shoppers choose the PSX or the Sugoroku over products made by Matsushita, Pioneer or Toshiba during the remainder of December, that should demonstrate that Sony is really gaining on its rival firms.