FACULTY OF BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT

BACHELOR (HONS.) IN FINANCE

MKT 558: DIGITAL MARKETING

INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT 1

PROGRAMME : BA 242

PREPARED BY : SYAZWAN AIMAN BIN SYOFHAN

STUDENT ID : 2019544821

GROUP : BA 242 4G

SUPERVISED BY : DR. AMILY FIKRY @ AZIZ

SUBMISSION DATE:

30TH APRIL 2020

 TABLE OF CONTENTS

No. Details Pages

1. Introduction 1

Online Consumer Variables (Micro-environment)

2.1 Demographic 2
2. 2.2 Psychographic 3
2.3 Geographical 3
2.4 Behavioural 3
Impact of Macro-environment
3.1 Political Forces 4
3.2 Social Forces 4
3.
3.3 Economic Forces 5
3.4 Technological Forces 5
3.5 Legal Forces 6

4. References 7

5. Appendices 8
Introduction

Sony Corporation is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in

Minato, Tokyo. Sony was founded in 1946 by Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita. The
corporation owns and diversified its business which includes the foremost important music
entertainment business within the world which is Sony Music, a leading player within the
film and television industry, Sony Pictures, the foremost important game console business
which was well known as Sony Playstation, financial services and also one of the leading
manufacturers of electronic products for the customer and professional market. These make
Sony one of the most comprehensive entertainment and technology companies in the world.

Sony Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. began operations in Malaysia on 31 October 1973. The company
specializes in marketing, sales and services for a wide range of consumer electronics products
as well as broadcast & professional products and solutions. There are in total of 2 Sony
Stores and 37 Sony Centre outlets nationwide, which offering consumers the latest Sony
products and services.

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Online Consumer Variables (Micro-environment)

2.1 Demographic

Demographic segmentation is market segmentation according to demographic variables such

as age, gender, ethnicity and income. This helps an organization like Sony to target and
understand its consumers more accurately.

i. Age

Based on my study for this variable, Sony customers are coming from all kind of age
from youngster to elderly. This is because there are various products that is available
for any people to buy through Sony’s website such as camera, gaming console,
smartphone and also home electrical products. For example, for the young generation,
they would probably want to buy the well-known gaming console which is
Playstation. Meanwhile, for the older generation, they will probably more interested
in camera, laptop and television. Sony tries to make their products for everyone, so
they can get more sales that way.

ii. Gender

In terms of gender, Sony did not target for any gender specifically. Anyone can enjoy
buying Sony’s product in the website either male or female. However, in 2013, Sony
Mobile launched Xperia Z Ultra smartphone with the aim to appeal to Asian women.
Head of market for Sony Mobile Malaysia, Cheong Wah Tong also said that the
product is designed for the quintessential Asian women who can now enjoy their
favourite shows while staying connected especially with the ecosystem that is
provided by Sony products. This campaign has been advertised through various ways
which includes television, online and also Sony Mobile Malaysia’s Facebook page.

iii. Income Level

For the income level, the customer for Sony website may come from middle to high
income level. This is because most of the products that is available in the website is
mostly above RM1,000 thus not all kind of people could easily buy Sony’s product.
However, that does not mean lower income level people cannot buy their products.

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2.2 Psychographic

Psychographic segmentation is defined as dividing a market into related consumers based

upon their lifestyles, interests, values, and personality characteristics. In terms of lifestyle and
interest, we can see that people who will go to Sony’s online store website is someone who
have high interest in gaming, music and photography. This is because, in February 2019,
Sony said its nine-month net profit jumped 63.2 percent from the previous year led by its
games and music divisions. This shows that most of the sales comes from gamers who played
Playstation 4. Besides, people who interested in music and photography also will go to their
website as Sony also sell cameras, headphones and audio devices.

2.3 Geographical

In terms of geographical, people who will visit Sony’s website will be various throughout the
nation. This is because, Sony online store could deliver the product bought by customers
nationwide. Thus shows that Sony does not only focus on international market but also
domestic market.

2.4 Behavioural

Behavioral segmentation is defined as the process of dividing the total market into smaller
homogeneous groups based on customer buying behaviour. Behavioural segmentation is done
by organizations on the basis of buying patterns of customers like usage frequency, brand
loyalty and user status. Sony Malaysia has introduced its latest revitalised MySony customer
loyalty programme, the primary cardless mobile membership in Malaysia that aims to supply
personalised service and a world of privileges to Sony customers and Sony fans. In terms of
loyalty, Sony Playstation has already had a strong fan base not only in Malaysia but
throughout the world.

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Impact of Macro-environment

Based on chapter 3 in MKT558 Digital Marketing which we getting know further about the
internet macro-environment, we acknowledge that macro-environment consists of external
forces which it has power to influences the success of a company like Sony. It consist of 5
factors that affect the way of Internet is being used to support Sony marketing strategies and
each of factors will be explain below.

3.1 Political Forces

Political and governmental influences affect how every business runs. Political stability is
connected to economic stability. And if the economy is struggling, the policies and
regulations can be assume as in chaos too. Each country has their own rules and regulations
set by the government as well as Malaysia. Sony has to follow all the government laws as it
plays an important role that may affect the long term competitiveness of Sony Corporation in
Malaysia. For example, in accordance with a mandate by the local government due to
COVID-19 situation, Sony has shut down both of its manufacturing plants in Malaysia which
is in Kuala Lumpur and Penang. This shows Sony Corporation obey the government.

3.2 Social Forces

The second element of external factors for macro-environment is social forces whereby it will
influence the social adaptation towards this company where it will depend on how society
used the internet to explore this kind of products to gain more knowledge about it. Social
forces are also link with the cultural that will affect society’s basic values, preferences and
also behavior whereby it will shape their belief and values. Based on what we can see, Sony’s
products are blending well with Malaysian culture as most of Malaysian people loves to play
console games especially teenagers and also loves to travel and takes picture thus shows that
Sony’s product is blending well with our culture and interest. Besides, in December 2018,
Sony has donated nine new television sets to several orphanages, welfare and old folk’s
homes in the country as part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative thus shows
Sony is making a good effort in their social aspect.

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3.3 Economical Forces

Economic sector is really important in order to ensure one business can be enforced perfectly
and it is close related to the factor that affect consumer purchasing power and spending
pattern. Malaysia is the 4th largest economy of South East Asia and it continues to perform
strongly due to a strong global demand for electronics besides increased demand for
commodities such as oil and gas. A good company need to have the opportunity to grow
alongside the economic growth in developing markets and Sony already have proven that
they took a good opportunity in Malaysia as Sony Corporation will establish its first
Southeast Asian video game studio in Malaysia in 2020. Previous Communications and
Multimedia Minister, Gobind Singh Deo also said that the studio will be open with the aim of
making Malaysia a central gaming hub for South East Asia and eventually worldwide and
this will be incentivised by the government. This effort is to attract strategic high quality
investments from international companies besides developing the gaming industry in the
country. This also has been proven as gaming industry contributed USD100 million to the
nation’s economy in 2018.

3.4 Technological Forces

Technological play important role in our daily routine especially for a business entity as it
will help the business to run smoothly in terms of production and sales. As we all know, Sony
is a business in technology sector therefore Sony is already advance in terms of innovation
and technology compare to regular company. Using the cutting edge AI technology, Sony has
developed through its products and services to date where inimitable innovations are made
possible. Sony has already made a lot of technological advancement product that involves
artificial intelligent such as Sony’s Eye AF camera. Besides that, with the help of technology
nowadays, Sony’s product can be found and bought in many platform such as Sony’s website
itself and also online shopping application such as Lazada. This makes people who was
interested and wants to buy any of Sony’s product to just go to any of those platform rather
than going to physical store. This was also proven during current situation of COVID-19
where people can’t easily go outside to buy the product due to government’s movement
control order and with the help of technology, all off the buying process can easily be done
just at our fingertips.

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3.5 Legal Forces

Legal factors include health and safety, equal opportunities, advertising standards, consumer
rights and laws, product labelling and product safety. For the international company, to know
what is legal and what is not is very important in order to trade safely in all countries. Since
rules and regulations in each country maybe same and differ to each other. Sony should know
and get familiar with each of the rules and regulations so that they can survive longer after
entering the global market such as Malaysia. For example, Sony Malaysia is implementing
the personal data protection policy for all the online customer who visit the website and buy
the product through it.

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 Reference

Greenspan, R. (2017, February 28). Sony Corporation’s PESTEL/PESTLE Analysis &

Recommendations. Retrieved from http://panmore.com/sony-corporation-pestel-

pestle-analysis-recommendations

Loheswar, R. (2019, November 8). Gobind: Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide

Studios to open in Malaysia. Malaymail. Retrieved from

https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2019/11/08/gobind-sony-interactive-

entertainment-worldwide-studios-to-open-in-malaysia/1808206

Malek, N. H. (2018, December 21). Sony Malaysia donates TV sets to old folks homes,

orphanages. The Malaysian Reserve. Retrieved from

https://themalaysianreserve.com/2018/12/21/sony-malaysia-donates-tv-sets-to-old-

folks-homes-orphanages/

Writer, S. (2013, August 6). Sony Mobile shifts focus to female consumers. Retrieved from

https://www.marketing-interactive.com/sony-mobile-shifts-focus-female-consumers

The Star Online. (2009, July 7). Loyalty programme for customers. Retrieved from

https://www.thestar.com.my/news/community/2009/07/07/loyalty-programme-for-

customers

Hiroi, Y. (2020, April 5) Sony and Panasonic keep Malaysia plants shut longer. Asian Nikkei

Review. Retrieved from https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Electronics/Sony-and-

Panasonic-keep-Malaysia-plants-shut-longer

Wikipedia contributors. (2020, April 28). Sony. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.

Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sony&oldid=953688526

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Appendices