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March 16, 2007
[ WOMEN ARE FROM KODAK, MEN ARE FROM CANON ]
THE LITTLE CANON IXUS 70, reviewed here today, sells for $450 RRP, and we wondered where that stands in the mind of the consumer. Is that an expensive or an inexpensive camera?
Last year we bought 1.87 million digicams, plus a few thousand more bought on the internet. About 80,000 cameras were SLRs according to the sales audit company GfK and the rest were compacts.
Virtually all compact cameras sell for under $1000 and the “sweet spot” for customers is around $333. Which means that the Canon Ixus 70 costs $100 more than the average customer is going to spend. Single lens reflex buyers, on the other hand, spend $1519 on average on their new camera.
Kodak has long boasted that women prefer the yellow and red to other brands because they perceive the name to guarantee simplicity, quality and consistency. Kodak, the market leader in units sold, took 22 per cent of the market last year, just ahead of Canon on 21 per cent.
Customer profiles show that the average Kodak customer is a woman, earning $30,000 a year or less. She is not style conscious and would not classify herself in the pro-am group -- the professional or serious amateur photographers.
Canon customers are more likely to be style junkies, under 44 years of age and be in the SINK or DINK category. (Single or double income with no kids.) Canon is the camera of choice of the yuppies and also of the serious amateurs and professionals.
One astonsihing fact to emerge from last year’s sales survey is that nearly 85 per cent of customers were buying second or third digital cameras. Why?
Stuart Poignand, marketing manager for Canon consumer imaging product group says that there are a few reasons for repeat buying. 46 per cent wanted a better camera. 14 per cent were replacing a broken or stolen one and 26 per cent just wanted an additional camera. No doubt the short model life of compact digicams keeps the customer discontented. Oh, the shame of being seen with last month’s model.
The most difficult information to get out of buyers is how much they are prepared to pay. Customers are coy about their budget because they think that by revealing it they will be giving the sales person a vital piece of information to use against them in the haggling. But without a clear indication of what the customer is going to spend it is impossible to give useful advice and there is much beating about the bush as the buyer hangs onto information that the adviser must have.
Objectively the best consumer camera on the market is the Canon 5D single lens reflex. The body alone costs more than $4000. On the other hand the best value for money, but not necessarily the best cameras, are some of the $200 entry cameras. And there is a camera at every price point between the two.
The moral of the story: at least have some idea of how much you intend to spend before going into the shop and don’t keep it to yourself. It won’t help you.
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Posted by terry at March 16, 2007 05:11 AM
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