Issue 42/2011

Your PMA Australia Executive

 National Chairperson-Richard Robertson
richardr@teds.com.au

DIMA International President

Phil Gresham

philip@fotofast.com.au

Eastern Region TVP

and NSW Chairperson

John Ralph

jrcamerahouse@bigpond.com

WA, SA, NT, QLD TVP

and QLD Chairperson

Andrew Mason 

print@photocontinental.com.au

 TAS Chairperson

Tim Jones

 tim@perfectprints.com.au

VIC Chairperson

Jeff Crowley

jeff.crowley@fujifilm.com.au

SA Chairperson

Paul Atkins

paul@atkins.com.au

WA Chairperson

Murray Gibbs

murray@ggch.com.au

Director of Australian Activities

Peter Rose

prose@pmai.org

Australian Directors for PMA

John Paxton

jpaxton@paxtons.com.au 

Len Sandler

len.sandler@starshots.com.au

PPFA Chairperson

Ormond Williams

osgood@bigpond.net.au

APCI Chairperson

Paul Atkins

paul@atkins.com.au

PSPA Chairperson

Paul Dawson

pd@hydrophotographics.com.au

PIEA Chairperson

Gale Spring

g.spring@rmit.edu.au

PMA Australia Office

02 9454 2444

pmaaustralia@pmai.org

Editor

Glynn Lavender

pmaaustralia@pmai.org

Citing worry about falling inventories, camera retailers have reportedly raised prices in Japan: The cost for the Nikon D3100 SLR for example rose 19 percent according to a price comparison website; other models jumped 11-15 percent.

Overall, damage from Thailand's worst floods in 70 years is estimated at about $11.2 billion. The floods may yet take months to recede, reports Bloomberg, and damages could rise to $22.8 billion. At least 562 people have been killed since late July.

While floodwaters are still more than 2 meters (6.6-feet) deep around some factories, Thai officials say they expect about 70-80 percent of the plants in four industrial estates should resume operations in December.

Two out of Sony's three factories in Thailand were closed following the floods, and Sony postponed availability of new NEX compact ILCs and the Alpha SLT-A65, but reports production has since resumed at another plant south in the country.

Nikon's Thailand factory stopped production of DX-format SLRs in October, and the D7000 is reportedly out of stock in some locations. Nikon will shift work from the Thailand plant next month.

Nikon says the first floor of its plant in the Rojana Industrial Park in Ayutthaya Province located in Central Thailand is still submerged. "The impact of the flood on our business performance  estimated to push down net sales by 65 billion yen and operational income by 25 billion yen." The company also reportedly lowered its SLR sales forecast from 5.4 to 4.7 million units. SLR interchangeable lenses production should return to the normal level by the end of March 2012.

Canon reportedly lowered production forecast for compact cameras from 20 million units to 19 million units, and SLRs from 7.3 million to 7.2 million.

It's not just image capture that's affected - image storage as well might rise in cost: In the first half of 2011, Thailand accounted for 40-45% of worldwide HDD production, reports research firm IDC. As of early November, nearly half of this capacity was directly impacted by the flooding. "Widespread flooding is bringing unprecedented devastation to the people and economy of Thailand," IDC says. "With operations disrupted at more than a dozen hard disk drive factories, damage to the HDD industry is significant. And this will have a direct impact on worldwide PC shipments through the first half of 2012."

After a whirlwind 2 week trip to run Photo Workshops for Dan's Camera City in Allentown Pennsylvania I thought I'd follow up on last weeks article and look at the wash up and benefits for both the store and their community of running photography based events.

With ticket sales totalling over $35,000.00USD for the 14 events you could only call this an astounding success considering all the doom and gloom you hear about the US economy.

After each event we'd spend a little time in store with the attendees assisting them with recommendations for gear to buy. With another $30,000.00+ dollars being spent on new equipment whilst we were there it sure goes to show that if you SHOW customers why a product is good rather than simply tell them then they are more likely to buy based on their own experience with the product.

In conversations with other attendees we also know they plan to continue to add to their gear based on our recommendations.

Tamron, one of my companies major sponsors, was in attendance for several events and certainly reaped the rewards with many many lenses being sold.

This certainly proves that if you give your customers a reason to spend money - they will!

There are only so many opportunities for us to directly control this process without relying on manufacturers to release the latest 'must have' accessory. Offering photographic events is something any store can do and will differentiate themselves from the local 'box movers'.

The events do not have to be complex. 

A few days after our departure Dan's ran a bus to a local Wildlife Park for their customers to take photos. Nothing they couldn't do by themselves but as one of my favourite customers once said 'I love coming to photo events, I hang around with people who share my passion and this is not something I get at home'

Check out the smiling faces on the people below. When was the last time you got to make so many of your customers smile AND make money in the process???

Th e Wall Street Journal has reported that Kodak is now looking to sell off its Kodak Gallery service.  It will be interesting to see if it will be absorbed by another similar service to simply get access to its database.

The Wall Street Journal reports Eastman Kodak Co., Rochester, N.Y., is seeking buyers for itsKodak Gallery photo sharing and printing unit, based in Emeryville, Calif., citing "people familiar with the matter say." The report says Kodak is approaching photo-sharing rivals, private-equity firms and retailers as potential buyers.

"The Rochester-based company is seeking "hundreds of millions of dollars" for Kodak Gallery, according to one person who has been approached to buy the business," the report said. "But the site has been shedding users in recent years, and the drop in traffic is a big deterrent to potential buyers, people who were approached say."

Recently, Kodak shed its Imaging Sensors business, in a plan to boost cash through the next year. The company ended the third quarter with $862 million in cash.

This is a must read for your staff this before this Christmas period.

With customers tougher to find than ever you'll need all the tips you can get to help convert lookers into buyers.

If holiday shoppers are going to be fewer this year, as some experts predict, then now's the time to plot ways to turn more browsers into buyers, according to Dwight Hill, managing director of retail consulting firm The Retail Advisory LLC of Plano, Texas.

Sageworks, a financial information company, conducted an analysis of financial statements from private companies within all industries and found companies have seen a nearly 7 percent gain in revenue so far this year. ButShopperTrak says foot traffic in stores during November and December will be 2.2 percent lower this year, hurt by persistently high unemployment rates and high gasoline prices.