Japanese photography and imaging major Fujifilm plans to set up four exclusive stores as part of a strategy to boost sales in low-penetration but fast-growing markets for electronic devices. While the locations are yet to be finalised, the company said it will be a mix of metro and non-metro cities and will be coming up over the next one year.
“We already have a strong retail network of 40 stores, but we also want to set up experience stores so that our customers can see, touch, feel and try our products,” said Arun Babu, national business manager of electronic imaging division, Fujifilm India. The company is also working on expanding its network of offline retail stores to 60 outlets as it believes the camera business will grow in “triple digits” this fiscal in India. Last year, its business grew by 290 per cent.
The company, which competes with the likes of Nikon, Canon and Sony in the “mirrorless” camera segment, has also expanded its product portfolio aggressively in the country, targeting both amateurs and professionals. On Monday, the wholly-owned subsidiary of a Japan conglomerate launched Fujifilm X-A7 in India. The new addition to the X series range of compact and lightweight mirrorless digital cameras will offer an outstanding image quality with a unique colour reproduction technology, Babu said. Priced at `59,999, the latest launch would entice audiences, including photography enthusiasts and bloggers, he added.
Typically, a mirrorless interchangeable lens camera is like a conventional DSLR camera, but uses a digital display system rather than an optical mirror and optical viewfinder. It is also much lighter in weight as compared to DSLR.
Babu said the interchangeable lens camera segment (which includes mirrorless and DSLRs) in India was estimated to be about 4 lakh units in 2018. “This segment in India has been declining by 15-20 per cent. But within that, the mirrorless segment has been growing very fast and is expected to overtake the DSLR segment by FY23,” he added. Sporting a retro design, the compact X-A7 weighs 320 gram.
Mirrorless lens
The interchangeable lens camera segment has been falling by 15-20%, but the mirrorless segment has been growing fast and is expected to overtake the DSLR segment by FY23.