jeffchin.com

First – check out this interesting article I found on Digg this past weekend.

The article is about how, since 2001, Steve Jobs and Apple defied market trends set by Dell’s direct-to-consumer business model by focusing on the aesthetics and design of their retail store. It contrasts the success of Apple’s retail store to Sony’s retail store (that opened a few years later in 2004).

The article mentions how the Sony store is generally empty while the Apple store is usually flowing with people. I have experienced this first hand. At my local mall, making the comparison is easy since the Sony store is directly adjacent to the Apple store. At first glance, the Sony store almost looks closed with dark walls, dim lighting, and a few unenthusiastic employees trolling the floor. On the other hand, the Apple store looks alive with white walls, bright lights, multi-colored iPods, and eager customers. This, as well as a comparison of their stock prices over the last 5 years, speaks volumes about the image of both companies.

Where did Sony go wrong? Growing up, Sony was synonymous with cool, easy to use and reliable electronics. If you wanted a portable tape or CD player you knew what brand to get – a Sony Walkman or Discman. And with their multiple failures to create a portable music player that the world loves, Sony lost its hold on being the proprietary eponym (with Walkman/Discman) to reference portable music players. Now most people refer to almost any portable music device as iPod-like. Their retail stores are just the latest addition to their list of missed targets and their slow decline out of consumer electronics (not to mention the PS3 losing momentum to the Wii and the XBOX 360).

Sony will have to try extra hard to regain the consumer’s trust and interest, and that will include more a new flashy marketing campaign and releasing a product decked in white. Redesigning their retail store wouldn’t hurt, but as always: at the end of the day, it’s the quality of the product that sells itself. I hope Sony turns itself around, if not for just the presence of competition – but it has a long steep mountain to climb to knock Apple off the top.