Nikon Rudderless?

[robbins.photo]

Target Canada stocked its echoing hangar-like stores with over-priced merch totally unlike their US offerings. Unforced marketing error of biblical proportions and classic b-school case.

Sorry, but given your track record of anti-nikon posts, well hard to take any of this at face value.

 

[astroNikon]

What doesn't struggle in Canada?

Deep...

Look at Target, they built ton of stores and shut them all down in a couple years, lost all that money.

Target Canada stocked its echoing hangar-like stores with over-priced merch totally unlike their US offerings. Unforced marketing error of biblical proportions and classic b-school case.

they're not the only ones ==> Target not alone in Canadian misfire

a more in depth article of various impact related items ==> Why Target Failed in Canada: the overlooked reason - Cantech Letter

tons of canadian license plates during the weekends around here.

 

[fmw]

Personally I see Canon and Nikon to be equals in terms of equipment. It is ridiculous to think that Canon knows its customers better than Nikon. They are the same customers and comparable equipment. Nikon Canada may have some management issues. I don't know. But what is hurting Nikon Canada and Nikon USA is the internet which has opened the whole world to buyers. It makes it hard for product cartels to thrive. Perhaps they will both do us a favor and go out of business. Nikon is doing fine. These importers may not be doing fine and that is fine with me.

 

[zombiesniper]

The author seems to be one of those people that can only see the tree and even though they're standing in the middle of it can fathom the concept of a forest. One camera offering doesn't kill a company or they'd all be gone by now since they've all screwed up at some point.

Look at Target, they built ton of stores and shut them all down in a couple years, lost all that money.

Target f*%$ed themselves when they jacked all the Canadian prices 2.5 times the US ones. It was still cheaper to cross the border, shop in a US Target than to shop in a Canadian one.
Nothing to do with the market. Just F#*ktarded people thinking we wouldn't notice the price difference.

They're apparently struggling in Canada: firing reps, parts and inventory shortages, pissed-off dealers.

Can't find any news on this and normally our news loves to report on the loss of jobs.

 

[Braineack]

"Long ago (now 18 years) I started writing that Nikon was losing their connection to the actual customer of their camera products."

So he's been bitching about Nikon for 18 years now and here he is, still using them. Hmmm? Can't be doing too bad.

He's not wrong here.

I've had a N60, D40, D3100, D5100, D600, and now a D610.

I only still own the N60 and and D610. I have really lost connection to the D40, D3100, D5100, and D600 -- i'm not even FB friends with them...

Not to mention all the Nikon lenses that have come and gone...

 

[robbins.photo]

"Long ago (now 18 years) I started writing that Nikon was losing their connection to the actual customer of their camera products."

So he's been bitching about Nikon for 18 years now and here he is, still using them. Hmmm? Can't be doing too bad.

He's not wrong here.

I've had a N60, D40, D3100, D5100, D600, and now a D610.

I only still own the N60 and and D610. I have really lost connection to the D40, D3100, D5100, and D600 -- i'm not even FB friends with them...

Not to mention all the Nikon lenses that have come and gone...

Well, you've made your D600 cry. Hope your happy. Meany.

 

[Braineack]

I found this funny:

I wonder what nikon is doing... it certainly didn't put out the best "pro" DX body that everyone has been pining for over the last 10 years... nope.

 

[robbins.photo]

I found this funny:

View attachment 127830

I wonder what nikon is doing... it certainly didn't put out the best "pro" DX body that everyone has been pining for over the last 10 years... nope.

As for the D3400 granted for me the addition of wireless and a microphone jack would be meaningless, but then again I'm not in the market for an entry level camera. For some folks those features might be big selling points. I'm guessing the guys at Nikon marketing probably have a lot more actual hard data on this than say, an internet blogger with no access to their internal sales reports and marketing research whatsoever.

 

[astroNikon]

"Long ago (now 18 years) I started writing that Nikon was losing their connection to the actual customer of their camera products."

So he's been bitching about Nikon for 18 years now and here he is, still using them. Hmmm? Can't be doing too bad.

He's not wrong here.

I've had a N60, D40, D3100, D5100, D600, and now a D610.

I only still own the N60 and and D610. I have really lost connection to the D40, D3100, D5100, and D600 -- i'm not even FB friends with them...

Not to mention all the Nikon lenses that have come and gone...

I've had the N80, D70, D7000 and still have the D600 and D750.
The first 2 don't write
and I know who uses the d7000 and it's still going strong last time I checked.

 

[Scatterbrained]

I think the issue he's bringing up here (or what I consider relevant about his points) is that Nikon is pushing into a contracting, and ever crowded, market. Low end consumer camera sales peaked years ago and have been on a downward spiral ever since. How much Nikon actually rely on those sales I don't know though, as I really don't care enough to research it. If they really are heavily reliant on low end sales, well, that sucks for them. At least Canon have office and medical equipment to fall back on.

As far as Samsung, I think they'll survive. I still have a Note 2, Note 4, and Note 5. When the time comes I'm sure I'll pick up another one. The thing that kills me about Samsung is the shear variety of products they produce. People see the effort they invested in the camera market, only to back out of it after producing what was a pretty solid camera, as a somewhat surprising disappointment. Personally, I'd be even more surprised if Samsungs customer support people even knew they made a camera. I have a Samsung desktop audio unit and their reps didn't even know Samsung made one. It's a very nice, high quality unit, yet the people responsible for helping consumers with issues related to the product didn't know it existed or how to even find it in their system.

As far as Target Canada, could the pricing issues have anything to do with differing import costs and taxes? I've heard downright horror stories about getting goods through customs there.

 

[astroNikon]

yeppers about Target Canada pricing in relation to GST/import duties ==> Some Target prices could be higher in Canada than in U.S.

Samsung isn't going anywhere. They are a massive gov't supported company with massive subsidiaries in many industries, services, products etc. But this is the internet .. we can start false rumors

 

[robbins.photo]

I think the issue he's bringing up here (or what I consider relevant about his points) is that Nikon is pushing into a contracting, and ever crowded, market. Low end consumer camera sales peaked years ago and have been on a downward spiral ever since. How much Nikon actually rely on those sales I don't know though, as I really don't care enough to research it. If they really are heavily reliant on low end sales, well, that sucks for them. At least Canon have office and medical equipment to fall back on.

Well I'd trust the guys with the marketing data a lot more than the guys without it for making those kinds of decisions.

I'm sure they've looked at not just the total sales figures on the"low end consumer cameras" but also at things like, how many of the folks that we sold one of these entry level models too eventually came back and upgraded to something more advanced?

It's data we don't have, can't really analyze properly and can only guess about anecdotally. Keep in mind too that markets change. Nikon still hauls in billions in revenue, I think they did something like 586 billion yen last year. Granted I have no idea how much that is in real money but I'm guessing it's a lot.

So yes, that might be down from a few years ago, but you have to be doing something right if your making those kinds of numbers. So yes, the market will change. It will fluctuate. But to base the notion that Nikon is doomed because one guy didn't like the update they did from the D3300 to the D3400? Ya, not buying into it.

Nikon has to look at things from a much different perspective than some self proclaimed internet expert. Ok, folks, no offense meant to Thom here.. he's a great photographer. But, I'm a pretty damn good driver. That doesn't mean I'm qualified to become the CEO of General Motors or make marketing decisions for them.

So, from Nikon's point of view - you can't really do a huge upgrade to the D3400 without taking sales away from the D5500. It's not just about total sales of the D3400, it's about inventory levels, etc. A lot more goes into those decisions than just looking at it from a how many of these can we sell perspective. They also need to balance the cost of each unit with a prospective price point. They also consider things like, what do people buying an entry level camera really want the most, and what do they consider more optional... nice to have but not necessarily a must?

So yes, a lot more goes into this stuff than most people realize. So with all do respect to Thom, lets face it.. he was never the target audience for the D3400 to begin with. He shouldn't be shocked that he would be so disappointed in it.

 

[goodguy]

What doesn't struggle in Canada?

Deep...

Look at Target, they built ton of stores and shut them all down in a couple years, lost all that money.

I went once into the first Target store that was open in north of Toronto, the store was half full, it looked miserable, I never walked into a Target store again. The lost of Target didn't move me much. Their entry to Canada was so unimpressive especially considering Walmart is already so strong here that they really needed to come out running and not walking backwards.

 

[Braineack]

Nikon will always refresh the consumer camera each year. ez revenue stream.

the Key Mission stuff is entering a hot market.

They come out with a bunch of nice f/1.8 and f/1.4 lens over the last year. 24mm, 35mm, 105mm, 200-500mm, etc.

they came out with the D500 and D5.

Once they replace the D810 with the D850 they have a pretty fantastic pro-DSLR lineup.

the snapbridge stuff is a step in the right direction.

the P900 seems to be really popular.

they still blow Canon out of the water in terms of cost:benefit.



How about this, what exactly is Canon doing that Nikon isnt?

• Canon: swimming slowly upstream with the 5D Mark IV, new significant higher end lenses, the EOS M5.

Okay, the D810 will be replaced soon, with specs and cost that will win out like always.
Again, they've been releasing higher-end lenses.
Nikon is also in the mirrorless market... what's so great about the M5?

 

[nerwin]

Nikon will always refresh the consumer camera each year. ez revenue stream.

the Key Mission stuff is entering a hot market.

They come out with a bunch of nice f/1.8 and f/1.4 lens over the last year. 24mm, 35mm, 105mm, 200-500mm, etc.

they came out with the D500 and D5.

Once they replace the D810 with the D850 they have a pretty fantastic pro-DSLR lineup.

the snapbridge stuff is a step in the right direction.

the P900 seems to be really popular.

they still blow Canon out of the water in terms of cost:benefit.



How about this, what exactly is Canon doing that Nikon isnt?

• Canon: swimming slowly upstream with the 5D Mark IV, new significant higher end lenses, the EOS M5.

Okay, the D810 will be replaced soon, with specs and cost that will win out like always.
Again, they've been releasing higher-end lenses.
Nikon is also in the mirrorless market...

I'm pretty sure that 200-500 5.6 has been calling my name. But I'm not allowed to buy gear anymore thanks to TPF