Nikon and Global Economic Decline

[larmarv916]

Today Nikon announced a major cut back and layoffs in view of major declines in sales.

"Nikon forecasts a net loss of 17 billion yen ($179 million) the fiscal year through March 2010. It posted a net profit of 28.1 billion yen last business year on sales of 879.7 billion yen."

Job cuts were as follows:

The company will slash 800 non-regular employees, such as contract and part-time workers, from its domestic manufacturing work force of 2,900 by March 2010, said company spokesman Katsuhiko Kaneko. It plans to cut another 200 from its marketing and servicing staff in Japan and overseas.


The job cuts are expected to save the company 8 billion ($84 million) in annual costs, Nikon said.


Also adding the following:


"Nikon has decided to implement drastic measures for fixed cost reduction in every business step of production, marketing and servicing," it said in a statement.

Over the past few weeks the press and governments have been trying to sell "blue sky" to the public. Here is a graphic of reality check of status of consumer spending declines are not getting better. while many may say the it's only 1000 jobs. The move by Nikon is a major step in response to lack of sales worldwide.

All the Best..Laurance

 

[Avotius]

Well they tried that thing with charging for their raw software. Maybe the next step is to sell you a camera then you have to buy software patches to activate various bits of it, like manual mode, movies, histogram and all that....hm....sounds like the airlines.

And the reason Nikon has bad sales worldwide is because the money end of the market, compact cameras for the masses....nikon's suck, there is no getting around it any other way. The P6000 was a huge disappointment and everything under it is not worth the shelf space it takes up. On the other side, the DSLR's, fantastic, love em but those wont keep them afloat.

 

[jonmanjiro]

And the reason Nikon has bad sales worldwide is because the money end of the market, compact cameras for the masses....

Actually no, the money end of the market is not compact cameras, its entry level DSLRs.

Anyway, photographic equipment is only around half of Nikon's business. The other half is photolithography equipment which ain't selling well either in the current economic climate.

 

[pvdhaar]

And the reason Nikon has bad sales worldwide is because the money end of the market, compact cameras for the masses....nikon's suck, there is no getting around it any other way. The P6000 was a huge disappointment and everything under it is not worth the shelf space it takes up..

A couple of weeks ago, I went on a holiday in the Mediterranean, and had made up my mind not to take an RF or dSLR along, instead focussing on the holiday experience itself. What I did take was a P5100, that I'd never been really enthousiastic about, for one reason only; it fit in a pants pocket.

But after a while, this camera grew on me, I brought better pics back than I anticipated; I just had to work a little harder to get them than with a dSLR, mainly because of limited lattitude for highlights. Somehow though, the P5100 -even with its cobbled together user interface, and wonky autofocus- delivered..

So, although I can see that the P5000/5100/6000 lack the wow factor, are slow to operate, and have a control layout that.. mmm.. let's say doesn't make optimum use of the command dial.. I can't dismiss them as a waste of shelf space after spending the effort to get the maximum out of it.

 

[Avotius]

Go to dpreview and look at the nikon camera's thing on there and look at all the faceless noname nothing point and shoots they make. Honestly I spend far too much time around cameras and I cannot recognize any of these point and shoots except the P6000. For quite a while Nikon point and shoots have been a waste of time and I dont know anyone who has one. Seems Nikon's efforts could be spent in better places since Nikon point and shoots truly lack the clout and abilities of the competitors.

 

[Tuolumne]

Don't believe the Pollyanna cr*p you read about the world economy improving. We are toast, and for a long time. Get ready for long-haul economic decline and turmoil. Buy a camera. Have some fun.

/T

 

[Tuolumne]

Go to dpreview and look at the nikon camera's thing on there and look at all the faceless noname nothing point and shoots they make. Honestly I spend far too much time around cameras and I cannot recognize any of these point and shoots except the P6000. For quite a while Nikon point and shoots have been a waste of time and I dont know anyone who has one. Seems Nikon's efforts could be spent in better places since Nikon point and shoots truly lack the clout and abilities of the competitors.

So, when's the Sigma DP2 finally going to hit our shores? 🙂

/T

 

[venchka]

If they could mate the D700 S/N ratio with a Micro 4/3 body they might have something.

Getting stiffed by Ritz/Wolf didn't help either.

 

[jonmanjiro]

Go to dpreview and look at the nikon camera's thing on there and look at all the faceless noname nothing point and shoots they make. Honestly I spend far too much time around cameras and I cannot recognize any of these point and shoots except the P6000. For quite a while Nikon point and shoots have been a waste of time and I dont know anyone who has one. Seems Nikon's efforts could be spent in better places since Nikon point and shoots truly lack the clout and abilities of the competitors.

Sure, lots of new faceless noname nothing point and shoot models. As I mentioned before, this market is not "the money end of the market". Entry level DLSRs are.

 

[Tuolumne]

How about Canon. How are they doing by comparison? They have a very successful line of P&S cameras.

/T

 

[jonmanjiro]

Just found this article in the Japanese news:

http://www.asahi.com/business/update/0526/TKY200905260308.html

26th May 2009

Nikon announced today that it was closing two factories in Japan that manufacture components for semiconductor and flat panel display manufacturering equipment, and reducing the workforce of the IC stepper division. The workforce will be reduced by approximately 1,000 employees domestically and overseas by the end of the financial year. The demand for semiconductors has decreased sharply, and orders for new machines are sluggish.

The factories to be close are Mito Nikon Precision and Sendai Nikon Precision, and their manufacturing role will be transferred to plants and affiliate companies in Kanagawa, Saitama, Tochigi, and Miyagi Prefectures by this October.

etc.

 

[jonmanjiro]

Here's the last sentence from that article. I decided to add it because its the most telling.

"The fall of the IC stepper (machines used to manufacture semiconductors) business, the main force of Nikon's business equal to the digital camera business has had a resounding effect, and Nikon forecasts a net loss of 17 billion yen for the fiscal year through March 2010, the first loss in seven years."

 

[Nikon Bob]

Not an unusual move in today's economic climate just wondered why they waited so long. Maybe they were more hopeful than I am of a quick economic turn around. I would take what "official government sources" have to say about a quick recovery with a grain of salt. They have a vested interest in not panicking the chickens.

Bob

 

[larmarv916]

Here is another little tid bit...our friends in Vienna, at WestLicht had another major auction over the weekend. The results we not good. A S2 "Black" original that came with a F1 / 50 internal mount. A lens rated at B+ should have gone for big money...not. Starting price was 5000 Euro's....sold for 7,000 Euros. Now that many not seem terrible...it was not close to expectations of the auction house. but another good example of how "soft" the serious collector market is was to watch a original S3 black, w 50 F1.4 Of near mint quality, in box and all the goodies. Only sell for 5500 Euros , after a starting bid of 3500 Eu.

The 1958 "New" in Box "SP Black" with hood, boxes , instructions and etc only fetched 7000 Euro's ! But real dissapointment of the nikon camera group was a complete a complete SP "system" kit...all new in box !

This "kit" was a SP chrome with "titanum" shutter all the cases boxes and so on. But when you know it had the following lenses.... 25mm, with 25 finder, cases, caps. A 35 F1.8 and a 35 F2.8..all hoodes, cases caps. A 2.8 50 to go with the original F1.4 50 on the SP, as well as a 85m F2, 105 f2.5, 135 mm F 3.5. ALL were new in box with cases, hoods, caps and so on. A turly high value system stlye opportunity. But it the high was only...7,500 Eu or under 12K USD, not counting fees...of course. But all the same starting bid was only 5,000 Euros ???

A much larger percentage of lots went unsold than I have ever seen. Prices are coming down at the both the high end and street used markets. that is why you see so many Ebay items listed over and over...the prices are way out of line. I look at the HK and Singapore dealers as the most over priced.

Now however we wait for the other shoe to drop....Leica & Zeiss to announce cut backs and layoffs. Plus price increases due to currency fluxuation of Euro to Yen and Dollar.

The World economic outlook is only getting worse..the media are only publishing stories they are paid to produce. So what else is new.

All the best....Laurance

 

[Spoks]

How about Canon. How are they doing by comparison? They have a very successful line of P&S cameras.

/T

They are the winners of the digital camera market. Particularly in the high-end pro market. Where also the profit are. Canon's camera division turnover is more than double that of Nikon with a profit four times as high as Nikon's. That said, Nikon has a record high profit of their camera division last fiscal year (March to March). So,things are changing fast.

Someone here had bought Kodak shares. I would have rather bought Nikon shares. I have much higher thoughts about a Japanese company compared to an American one. Sorry, for having to say this.

 

[Spoks]

....just wondered why they waited so long....

Bob

Because their management is not overpaid.

 

[sevo]

The "serious collector" market is a somewhat poor indicator of global economics. It has been on a decline for years, not only regarding photographica but all across antiques - the collectionist generation born in the twenties to fourties has long grown out of the buying age, and is by now shedding their collections into the hands of their ignorant heirs, or selling them off to gain space and money for their imminent move into a nursing home.

If any, the slump has made the situation more obvious by forcing a growing number of collectors or their heirs to sell at current market value where they previously could sit on their unsellably priced items maintaining a fiction of immutably high values - I've lately seen items sold at realistic prices which had been rotating ridiculously overpriced and unsold through various auctions for years.

 

[Baldadash]

overpaid spokesman (cough... cough... Kutch...)

 

[jke]

The Canon digital Rebel and the Nikon D-series may be complicated cameras in terms of their digital innards, but the outer bodies and lenses are basically the same ones that went on film SLRs like the Canon film Rebel and the Nikon N-series. What's more, the film cameras that were entry level SLRs sold for $350 tops, and those weren't even the truly entry level cameras (what did a basic Canon film Rebel w/lens go for - $175?) When digital SLRs really started to take off, the entry level cameras were $6-700 and quite a few were $8-1000. So you had a price shifting or a revaluation upwards of what entry level camera meant.

Now the market has shifted back downwards, but the prices on the products have not been comparatively revaluated quickly enough. In fact, they probably can't shift downward as quickly as the market is doing without damage to the company itself. So Nikon et al are stuck with product line that is worth more than the economy will support, just like people out there with houses they bought in the last three to five years who are stuck with a mortgage that is worth more than their home.

So it has less to do with the technical fit of the product - i.e. whether or not the command dial is easy to use on this model or that - and more with the larger issue of revaluation downward of everything at all levels of the economy and the ability of the company to absorb the damage of that revaluation. Canon, which is a much larger company than Nikon, probably has a better ability to absorb the damage.

 

[35mmdelux]

Innovate or die.