Sony Australia’s new general manager of marketing has revealed that research for the iconic Japanese electronics company shows that retailers are trading down consumers when closing sales. This survey was conducted by research agency Colmar Brunton.

In an interview with Appliance Retailer magazine, published in its March edition Nicolas Barendson, who joined Sony Australia in November 2011, said overturning this trend was one of his main goals.

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“We conducted an internal survey recently and found that when consumers go out and buy something, they spend something like 10 per cent less than what they expected to spend when they pushed the doors open. So we are trading down the consumer,” Barendson told Appliance Retailer magazine.

“One very important thing is that consumers are looking for value for money, not necessarily a cheap price.

“People are ready to pay a bit more if the experience is amazing. So if you give the right demonstration, if you give the right reason to upgrade then people will spend money.

“And this is the message I would especially like to give retailers. Don’t bargain your premium. Still continue to promote and explain it, spend some time, allocate some space, give us the opportunity to deliver training, because Sony has a huge team to deliver training to retailers. I’m quite passionate about that.”

Pick up a copy of the March issue of Appliance Retailer magazine to read the full interview.

This story has been updated to reflect the following:

The survey Barendson refers to was not internally conducted by Sony Australia.