India’s video-game console market is expected to grow to $125.4 million by 2010. It’s still far behind the other developed markets but a CAGR of around 75% is quite encouraging.
India is a market of choice for almost every type of business these days and Sony also knows this. India is a price sensitive market and modifying price range just a bit creates a whole new market for any product.
Sony is understood as a costly brand which doesn’t negotiate for quality; but recession seems to have its toll on this technology giant too.
It has recently lowered the price of PlayStation-2 to Rs. 6999/- so as to cater to another section of consumers who can still go with older version of Console but can’t afford a hefty price tag for the latest one. Sony is also going to release 1400 game CDs for PS2.
This is a market strategy to beat competitors in number sale rather than technology sale. 6999 is quite a cheap price as compared to competitors’ latest consoles- X-Box 360, Wii and Nintendo which sell for over 25,000. Even Sony’s PS-3 is quite costly, in fact the costliest (Rs. 40,000).
Whether consumers get excited enough with this or not is something to be seen.
Arun’s comment: Amazon Kindle should adopt similar strategy for India, and I am sure it will sell like Hot cakes. While Kindle’s standard price is $259/ –, it ends up costing above 400 dollars In India. Thanks to import duties etc.
[This Media Monday digest has been written by Rabi Gupta, a start up enthusiast and co-founder of iDubba (Intelligent Box).]