By James Wells

SYDNEY: Sony Australia managing director, Carl Rose, has told Current.com.au this afternoon that the company’s decision on 1 December 2008 to increase prices by between 5 and 30 per cent on 1 February 2009 will go ahead.

Sony will continue with its price rises across the board, despite the decision by Panasonic to delay its price rise implementation.

“I’m not in a position to comment on the business decisions of other companies,” Rose told Current.com.au.

“However, I would like to confirm that our price increase strategy stands. As outlined to our retail partners in December, the current economic situation is presenting a unique set of challenges for our industry.

“Specifically, there is and has been for some time, a 30 per cent fluctuation in the exchange rate, bringing the Australian dollar to its lowest ebb in eight years; and this stands to significantly impact our costs and we must take action to address this. We resisted any price movements throughout the important Christmas trading period. However, we will introduce our price increase as planned,” Rose said.

“We are working closely with our retail partners to ensure appropriate inventory planning at this challenging time.”

On 11 December 2008, Sony set a precedent in the Australian retailing industry by becoming the first company to announce it would increase prices in the television category on 1 February by between 5 and 15 per cent depending on the model in the Bravia range.

Sony has already implemented price rises on notebook PC and car audio products which were effective on 1 January 2009.

The only company to have increased prices across its entire range at this stage is Sharp Corporation, which implemented an increase of 10 per cent on 1 January 2009.