Three Camera Experience Stores by Three Biggies in the Same Month

Three camera segment biggies – Nikon, Sony and Canon, have opened their first exclusive experience stores in the country in May 2019

Nikon, Sony and Canon, now have their first ever product experience centers in India. While Sony had made the announcement of opening of its first camera lounge on 1 May 2019, Canon on 24 May 2019 had announced that it is opening one in New Delhi. Apparently, Nikon had also opened its first experience store in Ahmednagar on 14 May 2019.

Sajjan Kumar, MD, Nikon India had said, “We are delighted to open the first ever Nikon Experience Zone in Ahmednagar. Maharashtra have been an important for us, Ahmednagar is a picturesque land which is endowed with scenic landscape beauty and historical background. The new zone underscores our commitment to ensure a hassle-free sales point as the city witness’s good number of photographers. We aim to extend our reach to every photographer in the region and ensure Nikon helps in converting dreams into reality.”

Camera market stats

A recent report by CIPA mentions that as against a total of 1,867,875 cameras shipped during January 2017, only a total of 1,001,398 cameras were shipped in January 2019. The stats for Feburary and March 2019 are not that promising as well.

One reason behind this downfall could be the rise of smartphones equipped with extraordinary camera abilities. There have been people who have claimed clicking photos used in magazines as covers on camera smartphones (recent example is OnePlus 7 Pro). Then, some have even claimed of shooting entire documentaries on smartphones!

Reading between the lines

These three biggies in the camera space, opting to open an experience store in the same month may not be a coincidence at all. The first one opened by Sony in Bangalore was followed by Nikon in Ahmednagar and Canon in New Delhi.

While these three companies had mentioned these three cities as important markets for them, they had clearly stated that their complete range of products will be available at these experience stores. This simply means that apart from being experience stores, these will act as point-of-sales stores as well.

Sunil Nayyar, MD, Sony India, had earlier said, “The camera industry has seen strong growth in the full-frame segment, with consumers gravitating towards Sony’s innovative offerings for advanced and professional equipment. In order to cater this demand in a unique way, we have introduced our first Sony Camera Lounge to help our customers select their suitable products by experiencing them beforehand. With the progressive evolution of the full-frame segment, we aim at delivering unmatched experience of our digital imaging technologies through live demos and other intuitive mediums. We are confident that this first-of-its-kind camera lounge will be appreciated by our customers and will further help us boost our retail sales.”

Eddie Udagawa, VP, Consumer Imaging and Information Centre, Canon India had earlier said,“We are delighted to announce the launch of our flagship Canon Image Square store in the capital city, New Delhi. The new flagship store is fashioned in such a way that it creates sweeping experience for the customers with the gamut of cameras including cinema cameras, lenses and complete imaging solution in order to make the right choice of the products. The store also features some of the leading printers that have been delighting the consumers.

Udagawa added, “New Delhi is one of the key markets for us, not just in terms of customer base but also for being abreast with the technology trends that influence other markets. We look forward to receiving great feedback from our customers and add value to their imaging experience.”