Orlando, Fla. – Sony Electronics outlined its unilateral
pricing policy details for 2012, joining Samsung, Panasonic and LG Electronics,
who made similar announcements.
Sony
is placing all 2012 EX- and HX- series Bravia TVs on its SURE unilateral
pricing program when they ship, according to a Sony statement to TWICE.
Discussions
about unilateral pricing moves for these companies, and others, have been the
talk of the Nationwide Marketing Group and Brand Source buying group events,
being held here this week.
In
addition, Sony’s 2011 models XBR-55/65HX929, KDL-65HX729 and KDL-60EX720 will
also be placed on its SURE program beginning April 1.
Sony
said the policy applies to all retailers who are Sony customers. The policy
will be enforced by a third-party organization to monitor pricing in the market
and Sony is inviting retailers to forward potential violations directly
to the company.
Sony said it wants to make it “easier for retailers to do
business with Sony,” and added, “The SURE program has been successfully
deployed for years with Sony’s Alpha and E-Mount (such as its NEX-7) digital
imaging products.”
Sony Electronics president Phil Molyneux should have more to
say on the subject next week at a media roundtable to be held in New York.
Separately, LG Electronics told TWICE that it has implemented an extension to its Internet sales policy that prohibits retailers from selling LG 5700 series TV models and higher as third parties through online marketplace sites, like those run by Amazon, Sears and others. He said the action was not a unilateral pricing policy.
“We don’t think we belong in between the buy/sell relationship of the retailer and the consumer. We don’t think the manufacturer has the requisite skills to be a retailer,” said LG Electronics home entertainment senior VP Jay Vandenbree.
LG will continue to allow retailers to sell products on their own Internet sites, he said.
“If you go onto some of these marketplace sites today you see a listing of a lot of prices and a lot of retailers, and that’s all that’s there, and we don’t think that helps brands, technologies, retailers or consumers,” Vandenbree said.
