Accessories a lifeline for photo specialists

The global market for personalised photo products will be worth more than US$5.5 billion within a few years although the future for some specialist retailers may not be so bright.

While several speakers at the recent GfK Imaging Summit in Nuremburg, Germany, expressed ?concern? for specialist retailers there was a counter view that the increasing interest in advanced, expensive and quality imaging products suggested that there is still a role and an opportunity for the independent channel.

It was also mentioned that accessory sales provide another 'invaluable lifeline and opportunity' for the specialist trade to survive and prosper.

The conference, held every two years, was told that the market for personalised photo products is expected to grow from US$238 million (in 2003) to US$5.6 billion in 2012. It was noted that shops with 20 kiosks are already 'quite common' in Australia and the 40-kiosk shop is now appearing over the horizon.

"Looking at the categories and products that performed well in 2009, few can be linked to the traditional decade-long tenets of the electronics business: more, faster, better, cheaper," said GfK's Londonbased global director - information technology, Pascal Bollon.

He pointed out that in many areas product saturation has been reached and that many technical developments are not sufficient to encourage the consumer to think of replacing existing products.

DSLR market still growing

The market for DSLR is continuing to grow in many areas, particularly in Asia.

The position in the compact camera market is seen as less satisfactory with sharp declines in sales almost everywhere.

They have been particularly sharp in Eastern Europe where there has been a decline of 40% in value. But even in the market for compact digital cameras there has been one good trend which is visible in most areas of the world.

Sales trends have been best on the expensive cameras which are wellequipped with advanced features.

This was illustrated in Japan, where the share of 12-megapixel compact cameras rose from 30% in March 2009 to 50% three months later.

In the US, camera purchasers spend a total of about US$1100 at the time of purchase on their camera and on accessories, and nearly 20% of that sum is spent in the six months after the purchase was made.