Influencers: How Canon is overcoming ‘incredibly challenging’ market

In our Influencers series run in conjunction with Appliance Retailer magazine, Current.com.au speaks to the industry leaders, big brands and well-known identities that have helped shape the electrical retail industry in 2013.

Canon consumer imaging director Jason McLean today explains why Canon is spending millions on a new marketing campaign and what opportunities exist for retailers in a challenging market.

How has the first half of 2013 been for your business?

The first half of 2013 has been incredibly challenging due to a very poor Christmas performance, which resulted in excessive trade stocks. Alongside this, the poor industry sales results, as well as the ongoing grey market issues, have caused a high level of retailer uncertainty and insecurity.

That said, we have taken a very aggressive approach to stimulating local demand by providing extra support to our retailers and launching our biggest ever marketing campaign, which has seen some very promising results as we head to the end of June.

What are your predictions for the second half of the year?

There are definitely some positive signs of a lot stronger second half of 2013. There are pockets of momentum in the market, plus the Australian dollar coming down nearly 10 per cent in the last four weeks makes the local value on offer look very strong. However, it will only be maximised if we are all focused on providing excellent customer service that helps consumers with all their imaging needs.

From a Canon perspective, we see Australians’ passion for imaging is ever increasing, but the trend we are seeing in the market is toward integrating the complete imaging journey across capture as well as output, as consumers look to do more with their images. Future growth is in how we as an industry can help people do more with their images and maximise their imaging experiences.

What opportunities do you see for the electrical retailing industry?

I believe that we are at a real tipping point in the history of our market. On one side we have a very well informed and confident consumer and on the other side they have more choice than ever as to where they can purchase the product from. The balance for us all is to satisfy their needs first and foremost. This might sound like an obvious statement but the realities are that on some occasions both suppliers and retailers put their own needs first.

At Canon, we have a significant database of engaged consumers and we see feedback about their experiences of going into local retailers to buy a new Canon product and being pushed to buy something else. Everyone knows why this happens but this is the prime example of not putting the consumers’ needs first for perceived financial reasons. The real risk with this “old school” practice is that modern consumers are likely to walk out of the store and simply buy what they want somewhere else, resulting not only in an immediate lost business opportunity but more than likely all their future business as well.

So the facts are simple: there are more people than ever interested in imaging and there are more photos than ever being taken by consumers. The opportunity for retailers is to excite them about where they can take their imaging and become a partner for the duration, not just for the current transaction.

What threats are currently present in the industry?

Future growth as an industry will come through inspiring people do more with their images and helping them maximise their imaging experiences. The challenge is that people don’t know how to more with their images or where to start.

In order to meet this consumer demand and address this challenge, our focus for 2013 has been to inspire and enable Australians to do more with what they see, using Canon’s unique suite of end-to-end products, services and capabilities. As such, we launched our biggest ever marketing campaign and website experience, ‘No One Sees It Like You’, which simplifies the imaging process to help people learn, create, grow and connect with a community of image makers in one place.

What is your favourite product of 2013 so far?

This year, we launched the smallest and lightest APS-C DSLR in the world, the EOS 100D. The incredibly lightweight and compact body features a bright Optical Viewfinder, which gives users the full, responsive experience of a DSLR in a compact form.

If you would like to take part in our Influencers series, contact editorial@current.com.au.