The move to slash prices of Sony’s models has raised doubts that Sony is trying to dump stock before leaving Vietnam. But Sony has denied this.
“The mobile phone models are selling with big discount rates. These could be the last products of the Japanese manufacturer in Vietnam,” one news report said.
The rumor about Sony stemmed from the fact that large mobile phone distribution chains, including The Gioi Di Dong, FPT Shop and Hoang Ha Mobile, are selling Sony’s models at sharp discount rates.
The Gioi Di Dong has slashed prices of more than 10 Sony models, from low-cost products such as Xperia L1, L2 and XA1 to high-end products.
In particular, Xperia XZ2 and XZ Premium were cut to VND12 million from VND20 million and VND23 million as initially quoted.
The mid-tier models such as Xperia XA1 Plus and Xperia XA1 are now selling at VND4 million and VND3 million, respectively, or just equal to half of the initial selling prices.
Hoang Ha Mobile is also running a large-scale price cut campaign. The two high-end models XA2 and XZ Premium are priced at VND11.7 million, while low-cost and mid-tier models such as Xperia L1, L2 and Xperia XA1 Plus have the same selling prices or a little lower than prices quoted by The Gioi Di Dong.
The prices of a series of models have been cut, while there is no information about the new models the days to come.
The representatives of some retail chains have confirmed that the price cut is a part of the plan on dumping stock, and it is highly possible that no more new Sony smartphone models will be sold in Vietnam from now until the end of year.
The Gioi Di Dong said the price discounts will be applied to tens of thousands of Sony products available at the chain. Meanwhile, the distributor still doesn’t have plan to import next-generation models.
VnReview quoted the manager of a retail chain as predicting that Xperia XZ3, the latest model of Sony will no longer be available at large distribution chains in Vietnam, because of unreasonable prices set by the manufacturer.
“The model is too expensive, and it only has one rear camera,” he said. However, he thinks that XZ3 would still be sold at Sony Center shops in Vietnam.
In the latest news, Sony’s representative has denied that it plans to leave Vietnam.
The representative said that Sony is planning to bring Sony Xperia XZ3 to Vietnam. At this moment, Sony is preparing for a Sony Show in HCMC where many attractive products will be on display.
According to a report on Vietnamnet