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Wondering about your colleagues and competitors in the overall photography market?
A new report, Camera & Photographic Supplies Stores from First Research, provides an overview.
The U.S. camera and photographic supplies retail industry includes about 800 companies with combined annual revenue of more than $3 billion. (That's less than $10 a head per year though so there's plenty of room for growth - Ed)
Companies in this industry sell cameras and other photographic equipment and supplies from physical retail locations. Major US companies include Calumet Photographic, Ritz Camera & Image, and Samy's Camera.
The industry is concentrated: the 50 largest companies account for more than 80 percent of the market. And it is expected to grow at a low rate in the next two years, the analysts report, adding:
* Demand depends on consumer income.
* Profitability of individual companies is linked to marketing and efficiency of operations.
* Large companies can have economies of scale in purchasing and operations. Small companies can compete successfully by offering superior service.
* A typical store occupies about 3,000 to 5,000 square feet and stocks a few thousand items.
* Sales of photographic equipment and supplies account for about 70 percent of industry revenue. Stores also offer repair services and sell related items like memory cards, picture frames, and albums.
* Key challenges include competition from online retailers and mass merchandisers: big-box retailers such as Wal-Mart and Target, and electronics superstores, such as Best Buy. Photo kiosks and mini-labs are also found in many major drugstore chains.
Access the full article here
Take aways from this for me are that the spend per head for the USA is very low at under $10 per head per year. Assuming an average of 4 people per family it means less than $1 a week per family in the USA is spent on photo related products. Whilst $3 Billion sounds impressive (and it is a big figure) it is small compared to population size which shows there is huge potential for growth in their market, especially in a depressed economy.
Relating that to the Australian market where we have issues they don't have (GST, high dollar and cheap imports) it still shows that we are only scratching the surface of the potential market.
The 50 largest companies make up for 80% of the market which sounds ominous but if you look at how many stores those 50 largest companies have combined they are actually a long way off the old 80/20 rule.
This means specialty, whose combined total is far lower, are actually doing relatively well in drawing customers.
I guess the other key fact that I always seem to be hit in the head with with these sorts of reports is who puts them together. Surely it must come from the Ministry of the Bleeding Obvious.
Key points such as 'demand depends on customer income' and 'profitability is linked to efficiency' are surely not going to drag in buying customers for their research. Time they started telling us something we don't know.
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