Sony 2015 Annual Report Download - page 33

utilizing its experienced team of Lifeplanner®sales employees as well as partner independent sales agents. Sony
Life provides tailor-made life insurance products that are optimized for each customer. As of March 31, 2016,
Sony Life employed 4,612 Lifeplanner®sales employees. Sony Life maintains an extensive service network
which mainly consists of the Lifeplanner®channel and the independent agent channel in Japan. The Lifeplanner®
channel is characterized by strict recruitment and training of sales professionals from industries outside the life
insurance industry, performance-linked compensation and its high productivity, and offers custom-made
packages. Most of the agents in the independent agent channel are corporate and non-exclusive agents, centering
on shop-style agents. Shop-style agents are a sub-channel of the independent agent channel, who offer insurance
in local stores and provide customers with opportunities to compare various insurers’ products. To enhance Sony
Life’s relationship with independent agents, Sony Life’s agent support staff provides independent agents with
various support services, including recruiting, training and sales promotion activities. As part of its plan to
expand its sales of individual annuity products, Sony Life established a Japanese joint venture company with
AEGON N.V. The 50-50 joint venture, known as AEGON Sony Life Insurance Co., Ltd. was established in
August 2009 and began operations in Japan in December 2009.
Sony Assurance has conducted a non-life insurance business in Japan since October 1999. Sony Assurance’s
core business is providing automobile insurance products and medical and cancer insurance products to
individual customers, primarily through direct marketing via the Internet and the telephone. The direct marketing
business model employed by Sony Assurance enables it to improve operating efficiency and lower the costs of
marketing and maintaining its insurance policies, creating savings which it passes on to policyholders in the form
of competitively priced premiums.
Sony Bank has conducted banking operations in Japan since June 2001. As an Internet bank focusing on the
asset management and borrowing needs of individual customers, Sony Bank offers an array of products and
services including yen and foreign currency deposits, investment trusts and mortgages. By using Sony Bank’s
transaction channel, the “MONEYKit” service website, account holders can invest and manage assets over the
Internet according to their life plans. On July 1, 2011, Sony Bank acquired Sony’s 57 percent equity interest in
Sony Payment Services Inc. (“Sony Payment Services”), resulting in Sony Payment Services becoming a
consolidated subsidiary of Sony Bank. Sony Payment Services is an industry-leading provider of credit card
settlement services to members of its Internet network.
All Other
Sony DADC group (“Sony DADC”) offers Blu-ray Disc™, DVD and CD media replication services as well
as digital and physical supply chain solutions to business customers in the entertainment, education, and
information industries.
Sales to External Customers by Geographic Area
The following table shows Sony’s consolidated sales to external customers in each of its major markets for
the periods indicated. Figures in parentheses indicate the percentage contribution of each region to total
worldwide sales and operating revenue.
Fiscal year ended March 31
2014 2015 2016
(Yen in millions)
Japan 2,199,099 (28.3) 2,233,776 (27.2) 2,317,312 (28.6)
United States 1,302,052 (16.8) 1,528,097 (18.6) 1,733,759 (21.4)
Europe 1,753,526 (22.6) 1,932,941 (23.5) 1,881,329 (23.2)
China 520,539 (6.7) 546,697 (6.7) 540,497 (6.7)
Asia-Pacific 1,013,635 (13.0) 1,052,453 (12.8) 959,171 (11.8)
Other Areas 978,415 (12.6) 921,916 (11.2) 673,644 (8.3)
Total 7,767,266 (100.0) 8,215,880 (100.0) 8,105,712 (100.0)
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