Sony Ericsson plans more branded stores

Sony Ericsson is planning to open at least 10 more own-branded retail stores around the world after launching its first in London this week.

The mobile giant, which has just celebrated its fifth anniversary, has signed a deal with Carphone Warehouse to operate and manage the store in Kensington, as first revealed by marketingweek.co.uk last month.

The company will follow the London launch with a global roll out and marketing chief Dee Dutta says it is looking at between 10 and 12 locations in major cities around the world.

“There won’t be one on every high street or even in every city, but we want other places to showcase our products,” he says. “We felt this was the right time because we have reached a five-year milestone, achieved record profitability and record growth and have a lot of new music and camera phones in our range.”

A central bar runs the length of the 3,500 sq ft shop in London allowing customers to try handsets from the manufacturer’s Cybershot and Walkman ranges. It will also sell accessories and PC cards.

Dutta adds: “We can showcase our products in traditional shops but we wanted to be able to do it in a brand environment where we can tell the whole story. This store will attract people not just from London but from all over Europe.”

Sony Ericsson handed Dutta overall control for marketing at the start of this month in a restructure following the departure of Jan Wareby (MW November 2).

 

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