Nikon India is aiming to capture 50 per cent of the Indian market for D-SLR cameras used by professionals mainly but also by avid high-end amateurs. Alongside, it is confident of being able to double its current market share in compact cameras used by amateur photographers.
Stating this while talking to The Hindu , Hiroshi Takashina, Divisional General Manager, Imaging Division, said that Nikon India was expecting a near-doubling of its sales by March 2010. “In the backdrop of the global recession and stagnation in the Western markets, Nikon sees India as a market with huge potential although currently this market adds only one per cent of Nikon’s worldwide sales.” Nikon India set up its office in India two years ago.
Mr. Takashina said that Indian camera sales clocked a 50 per cent increase in 2009 when demand was stagnant in the U.S. and Europe. However, during the year, China saw an expansion of the market as did Japan. Nikon’s closest competitors are Sony, Canon, Samsung, Kodak and Olympus.
Mr. Takashina said that his company has revamped its distribution strategy recently — shifting from a national distribution network to region-specific distribution hubs. Under this gameplan, the company had already appointed 22 local distributors across India and aims to increase this number to 28 by this year-end.
In total, 1,200 retailers would be targeted.
He said that at present six models of Nikon’s D-LSR cameras and 12 models of compact cameras were available in India and advanced models were proposed to be introduced soon. It has also lined up shop-in-shop stores and also in-store branding in order to increase reach.
