Nikon focuses on Indian weddings for DSLR push

New Delhi: Japanese camera major Nikon is banking on the big fat Indian wedding market to see a spike in the DSLR (digital single-lens reflex) camera business and make this country its one of the top five revenue-generating geographies in the next five years. Currently, India features among Nikon Corporation’s top 10 imaging business markets globally.The US, China, Japan, Germany and the UK make it to the top five.
The imaging giant’s global marketing head (imaging business), Takami Tsuchida, told TOI that 45%-50% of the DSLR buyers are wedding photographers here. “At least, 20 million couples tie their knots in India each year and it is around 20 times more than what we see in Japan. In an affluent Indian wedding, you can see a team of five to eight cameramen working in tandem for pre-wedding shoot, sangeet and reception. There lies our market as the Indian millennials are not settling for any less on their D-days,” Tsuchida added on the sidelines of the Nikon D850 launch in New Delhi.
Nikon Corporation is celebrating 100 years of business globally while its 100% Indian subsidiary is making its presence felt here for the past 10 years. In India, around five lakh DSLR cameras were sold last fiscal. “Around 55% were from Nikon,” he said.
In 2016-17, India contributed 3% to the Nikon Corporation’s global imaging business revenue. “We want to make it 4%-5% in two-three years. Like China, it is becoming one of the most important markets to our parent company,” Kazuo Ninomiya, MD, Nikon India, told TOI. The camera maker is coinciding its global model (D850) launch with India because “it is the right time to consider India as a serious market ahead of the festivals — Durga Puja, Diwali and Christmas — and the wedding months. Moreover, with the rise in number of Indians with disposable income and their increasing affinity towards travelling, fashion, wildlife, blogging and social media, we have witnessed a 10% fiscal growth in the DSLR business here.”
However, the Nikon imaging sales head admitted that the compact digital camera (CDC) business has been “cannibalised” by smartphones. “Thus a few of the CDC makers like Samsung have already left the domain and a few of them have joined hands; like Ricoh bought Pentax for consolidation. But, we will remain in the CDC business for now. We are devising strategies and adding up features (like high-zoom, action-camera and waterproof bodies etc) with CDCs in order to promote this category. Also, there are consumers who don’t like bulky DSLRs,” he added. Quantity-wise, Nikon’s CDC sales are falling by 15%-20% each year globally.
On the possibility of its first manufacturing unit in India, Tsuchida said: “The India DSLR market is yet to mature. However, one day, it will give us enough reason to set up base here.” He also ruled out the company’s entry into the high-volume smartphone camera manufacturing business.
The new Nikon 45.7-megapixel D850 camera is priced at Rs 2,54,950 (only body) and Rs 2,99,950 (body plus lens).