It’s probably not breaking news that 2020 is a pretty tough year for the camera industry.
This follows years of declining sales that have some analysts still wondering exactly where the bottom of all of this is.
Yet there is some hope as Nikon reported a better-than-expected sales increase of 58% but also higher losses ¥-23.1B, FStoppers reports.
Imaging products experienced both a sales increase as well as huge losses, ¥39.3B in revenue with ¥-19.3B in losses with ¥15.5B of that being due to “impairment losses” or asset depreciation tied to imaging equipment in Japan and Thailand. Without that special charge, some are noting that the division is more break even than the numbers would otherwise suggest.
Two areas of weakness highlighted by Nikon’s sales report are compact cameras and mirrorless. On the converse of that, DSLR and lens sales continue to be robust areas of growth along with the company’s healthcare and industrial lines.
All of the special considerations due to the novel coronavirus pandemic aside, things are still looking tough for Nikon’s camera division.
To get the company back to profitability, the company is considering a 20% reduction in its overseas workforce of some 2,000 employees, FStoppers reports.
As we have reported here, Nikon is continuing to push an aggressive slate of new product releases over the next year. If you haven’t been able to check out some of our articles on that, you can read them here.
What do you think of 2020’s impact on camera sales? Let us know your thoughts on this story in the comments section below.
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