Se-lifestyle Blog

Sony Ericsson is increasing its efforts to get a larger slice of the mobile phone accessories market in SA.

According to Colin Williamson, marketing manager for Sony Ericsson SA, the company has made its accessories offerings in the local market more of a priority for the future. It recently gathered a number of resellers to introduce its latest accessories, in an effort to increase consumer sales.

Williamson says the company is working hard at upping its accessories game and getting more dealers and resellers involved, which includes keeping them informed of its latest technologies.

Sonja Shear, head of marketing at Sony Ericsson SA, says: “We have had challenges selling accessories through third parties and the channel, and we did not focus on distributors in the past, but things are changing now.”

The company has also started bundling speakers with phones, especially the company’s Walkman range of handsets, to boost accessory sales.

Sony Ericsson accessories were rather absent from dealers’ shelves in the past, and mostly only available from the Sony Ericsson store at Vodaworld in Midrand.

Shear says adding accessories to phones presents dealers with an up-sell opportunity, and believes dealers will take favourably to this opportunity. It will create an environment where they can give consumers a kind of ‘supersize me’ option when buying Sony Ericsson phones, she adds.

The company recently underwent a major rebranding exercise to move closer to the Sony brand and to target the emotional aspect of consumers’ lives, more than simply appealing to their communication needs.

This, says Shear, will add to the company’s marketing strategy of ‘entertainment unlimited’, providing a complete mobile multimedia experience to users.

Apart from accessory sales, which Shear and Williamson concede were not a priority before, Shear says the past year’s sales of handsets locally were relatively stable for the company; SA remains one of the top performers in its region.

SONY Ericsson Philippines is not only making a name as a major electronics phone company but is also pushing a green agenda toward a cleaner environment. Through Greenheart, Sony Ericsson aims to introduce sustainable practices in the mobile lifestyle.

Dennis Manzano, Sony Ericsson general manager, said the company is committed in reducing the environmental impact in its global operations worldwide. Initially, Manzano said the introduction of GreenHeart line is initial step to its commitment on environmentalism.

Under the GreenHeart program, Manzano said the Naite will be shipped with the MH300 headset, which is made up of 100-percent recycled plastic, and a low consumption, power-efficient charger.

“GreenHeart is about lowering the overall environmental impact of our phones without compromising on style or features.  The key environmental innovations from our GreenHeart program such as reduced packaging, elimination of paper manual and cleaner materials choices will be implemented in our other products,” said Manzano.

He added that the Philippines is gradually up with the rest of the Sony Ericsson operations worldwide with regard to GreenHeart.

“It has taken awhile for the country to embrace more environment friendly practices, but we’re getting there as awareness increases. Sustainability is a shared responsibility.  We’re hoping that GreenHeart products will raise awareness to greener alternatives in the mobile lifestyle,” said Manzano in an e-mail interview with the BusinessMirror.

The C901 GreenHeart, which features a 5-megapixel camera with 16x digital zoom and Xenon flash, was the first GreenHeart product released in the Philippines in July this year

 “Now we’re very excited to introduce Naite, the second GreenHeart product with a 2-megapixel camera phone, high- speed data packet access (HSDPA) connectivity and a low-power charger,” said Manzano. 

“Naite is made of 50-percent recycled plastic and uses waterborne paint.  Waterborne paint means it has a less-harmful solvent grade.  Instead of a thick paper-based user guide, people can access the electronic manual and product support within the phone,” Manzano added.

Naite’s display light has also been optimized to use less energy. He added carbon dioxide emissions of the Naite are decreased by 15 percent.  

Manzano said the GreenHeart is geared toward all markets. For instance, he said there will specific models that will suite the respective lifestyles of the user.

The GreenHeart program began as a concept study on how the company as a whole could reduce environmental impact in the whole lifecycle while still coming out with innovative, sustainable products. “We wanted to offer our customers the opportunity to make greener choices, while designing, manufacturing and operating in an environment-friendly manner,” said Manzano.

Since the start of the joint venture in 2001 between Japanese electronics giant Sony and Swedish telecommunications Ericsson, Sony Ericsson has exerted efforts to surpass industry standards in the removal of harmful substances and energy-efficient chargers.