Slow-down in sales of digital cameras
Thailand's political and economic difficulties have resulted in a shrinking demand for digital cameras - the first slow-down in the product's history.
The research institute JFKReport said sales of digital cameras in Thailand declined almost 10,000 units to only 50,000 units last month. In the same month, Kodak's digital-camera sales also dropped significantly - 10 per cent.Pallop Santiphant, country business-unit manager for Thailand and Vietnam at Kodak (Thailand), said on a recent visit to dealers and photo-lab operators in Thailand's Central and upper-South regions that he witnessed a quiet market environment, hit by economic and political uncertainty and an early rainy season. "Digital cameras are a sensitive commodity and quickly affected when consumers have lower confidence in the country and their future," he said. Not only are individual consumers delaying purchases, but also small- to medium-sized operators of photo laboratories are delaying investments on new imaging machines to convert their operations from analogue, or film-based, imaging and printing services to digital. He said the average investment required to open a digital lab ranged from less than Bt2 million to more than Bt4 million and that many small businesses had decided to hold onto their cash in this time of economic uncertainty. Pallop said there were 527 Kodak Express labs in Thailand and that about 400 of them had been converted to digital technology to provide printing solutions for customers with digital cameras. In total, there are about 2,400 photo labs throughout the Kingdom, about half of which have converted to digital technology. "The market for digital cameras grew 15 per cent to about 870,000 units last year. We estimate the total market will grow 5-12 per cent this year," Pallop said. Kodak has revised this year's sales target for digital cameras down from 100,000 units to about 90,000 units. Paisan Areepongsa, sales and marketing manager for the Consumer Digital Imaging Group at Kodak (Thailand), said the company's sales of digital cameras rebounded this month, when Kodak achieved its sales target of 6,000 units. To stimulate local demand, Kodak will launch eight new "flagship" digital-camera models later this year, with prices ranging from Bt5,000 for 7-megapixel models to about Bt12,000 for 12 megapixels. Pallop said digital cameras contributed 25-30 per cent of total business for Kodak (Thailand) and the company expects total sales of about Bt2 billion this year. Kwanchai Rungfapaisarn
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