From: ClassicVW@xxxxxxx
Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2001 07:05:00 EST
Subject: Film vs. Digital figures (long)
To: owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Content-Type: text/html; charset="UTF-8"
Content-Language: en
While attempting to find reliable sales information, I ran across
these two articles from Photo Marketing Association International.
It is from their newsletters. Maybe the reason so many people can't
work their cameras, and/or are not happy with the results is the fact
that 400f cameras are purchased as gifts!
George S.
Sales of digital cameras rose 83 percent in October
Bloomberg News reported sales of digital cameras rose 83 percent in
the four weeks ended Oct. 27, while sales of film continued to
decline. The average sale price fell 29 percent from the year-earlier
period, compared with a 19 percent price drop in September, the
report said, citing NPD Intelect. Eastman Kodak Co. bumped
Hewlett-Packard Co. from the No. 3 spot in the share of digital
camera sales.
Kodak's share of digital camera sales in the United States totaled 12
percent. Sony Corp. had 22 percent and Olympus Optical Co. had 13
percent. Hewlett-Packard was fourth, with 11 percent, and Fuji Photo
Film Co. Ltd. was fifth, with 8.6 percent.
Kodak's film sales fell 19 percent in the four weeks ended Nov. 4
and it lost market share to Fuji and private-label brands, according
to Information Resources Inc. While industry-wide sales fell 11
percent, Fuji's rose 14 percent. The data do not include sales from
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. or warehouse stores.
Consumers place cameras under the tree
Forty percent of cameras purchased last year were gifts
With the winter holidays almost here, many consumers are thinking of
camera purchases for their loved ones. And retailers hopefully are
reaping the benefit of this holiday spirit. Gift purchases make up a
significant portion of total camera purchases, and December camera
sales are higher than those of any other month. According to the 2001
PMA U.S. Consumer Photo Buying Report, available from the PMA
Marketing Research Department or on the PMA website at
<http://www.pmai.org/>www.pmai.org, 40.3 percent of total still
cameras sold in 2000 were purchased as gifts.
The greatest share of gift cameras purchased is 35mm
point-and-shoot cameras, holding more than 40.0 percent of unit share
in 2000. Digital still cameras hold another 20.9 percent of gift
camera unit share. Forty-five percent of all 35mm point-and-shoot
cameras were purchased as gifts in 2000, compared to approximately
31.0 percent each for APS and digital cameras.
The preference for 35mm may be related to price. Consumers
spend less on gift cameras than they do on cameras for themselves,
and 35mm cameras tend to be less expensive than APS and digital
cameras. Even comparing only 35mm purchases, consumers spent an
average of $100 on cameras for themselves and $88 for gift cameras.
Digital camera customers spent an average of $364 on themselves, but
only $268 on gift cameras.
Gift purchasers turn to discount stores more frequently than
those who purchase cameras for themselves. Forty-eight percent of
gift cameras were purchased in discount stores last year, compared to
33.0 percent of cameras bought for oneself. Gift cameras purchased at
electronics stores carry a higher price tag than gift cameras
purchased from any other type of store. Electronics stores likely
sell the greatest share of digital cameras, however, which tend to
carry a higher price tag than 35mm and APS.
Those who purchase cameras as gifts tend to be in the 35- to
54-year-old age group and have incomes of at least $50,000. Cameras
are relatively expensive purchases, which may deter young people and
those in the lower income brackets from purchasing them as gifts.
Will cameras be a hot item this holiday season? The drab
economic outlook and declining consumer confidence may leave some
retailers skittish about this year's holiday sales; but hopefully,
the holiday spirit and excitement about digital imaging can encourage
customers to open their pocketbooks. This season, more than any
other, puts them in the spending mood. After all, 37.8 percent of
digital cameras sold last year were purchased in December.
-- By <mailto:blongheier@xxxxxxxx>Brian Longheier
Retailers enter second digital camera season
The arrival of the fourth quarter marks a shift in digital camera
buying habits, according to the October issue of the Pixels & Profit$
newsletter from Credit Suisse First Boston, New York, N.Y. While
digital camera buyers in the first three quarters are primarily early
adopters purchasing a camera for themselves, the mass consumer enters
the market in the months leading up to the holidays. As a result,
less expensive models sell better in the fourth quarter than they do
during the rest of the year.
"Historically, as the mass consumer has shifted purchase points
to the lower end, so, too, has market share shifted away from the
premium players during this period," states Credit Suisse First
Boston analyst Gibboney Huske.
According to the newsletter, the average selling price in the
fourth quarter is 25 percent below the average during the rest of the
year. It is important for retailers to understand who their customers
are during this season, because the fourth quarter has accounted for
49 percent of unit sales for the past three years.
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