How do Sony or Bose have any kind of retail advantage? What stores that sell Sony and Bose don't also sell Apple stuff? Plus Apple has their own stores which make more money per square foot than just about any other retailer.
Once you factor price into the equation, there's very little reason for an educated customer to pick the Airpods besides marketing. Apple doesn't give people a good reason unless they already own thousands of dollars in other Apple hardware.
Sony funnily also has presence in many specialized and/or non tech shops (select goods shops etc.) where they could be only two or three earbuds. If Apple didn't get the certification, having a spot for Sony's or Bose's ones could have been a natural choice if the shop targeted that kind of demographic.