By Biz Fast Tracker Barry Tanenbaum
The operative word in the headline is “was.” Almost every dealer I talked with was glad to bid ’09 a not so fond adieu. And even though crossing from 2009 to 2010 has not much to do with marketing or sales and everything to do with record keeping and the symbolism of a line of demarcation, it seems that any line at all, symbolic or not, is enough. As one dealer said, “It’s a tough time to be in retail.”
What I was looking for was their perceptions of 2009 and maybe a few high points to take away from the days of ’09.
And without hesitation, the first dealer I called—Brian Noble, at Noble’s Camera in Cohasset, Massachusetts—found a high point. “We were forced to be more creative than ever before,” he said, “to offer more services. It’s a challenge, but it’s good because we’re tapping into the creative side. We’re not just producing a 4x6 print; we’re trying to come up with reasons why customers should buy more than that.”
It made for a better Christmas, he said, because of a better Christmas card selection and “more opportunities for different products, more creative products.”
He was equally quick to come up with the big negative of the year. “The biggest problem I see is manufacturers dropping prices. We’re dropping our prices left and right; it’s the same percentage margin, but I pay my rent with dollars, not margin.” These days he’s selling, for example, a 12 megapixel point and shoot with a five-power zoom, image stabilization and facial recognition for $150—“and it takes the same amount of time to sell it as it did when it was $400,” he said. The manufacturers’ pricing, based on “their need to sell tonnage,” is not helping.
Neither is, he added, “the manufacturers dropping prices another $20 at the last minute at Christmas. You don’t have to do that . . . people are either going to buy a camera or they’re not; a $20 bill isn’t going to make a difference.” Summing up he said, “We worked smarter, but it’s harder.”
Bruce Klein, at Bernie’s Photo in Pittsburgh, said, “I’ll start with the positives because that’ll be a shorter list.” On the product front the bright spot was accessories, particularly chargers. “We started selling a lot more of them; people keep losing their chargers. We were up probably a couple of hundred percent for chargers over last year.” He added that sales of bags were up a little bit, but memory cards were “about the same because people can buy them just about anywhere.”
Then, a surprise: “Our black-and-white film business picked up, believe
it or not.” Who’s buying? “Students who are taking classes. And students who’ve never used film and want to try it and see what it looks like; they want to experiment.”
On the negative side, people didn’t spend as much as he’d hoped they would. “We still have some merchandise on the shelves we’d anticipated moving through Christmas,” he said, “and now we’re hoping we have post-Christmas sales. Maybe somebody got the wrong item, so they’ll come in and buy, or pick up some accessories. People were a little more reserved this Christmas.”
And he suspects they’ll continue to be so. “They’re thinking about what their picture is going to be for the next year. They’re thinking, am I going to have a job? So the image they have in mind [of their future] reflects their purchasing decisions; they’re saving for next year, just in case.”
Cameras that did well for him? “Some of the higher end point and shoots. People wanted quality but didn’t want to carry around a heavy DSLR.”
Overall 2009 was a down year for the store, but Bruce Klein is still there, still standing. Not everyone else is: “As a matter of fact,” he said, “we’re one of the last camera specialty stores in western Pennsylvania.”
At Shutterbug Camera in Santa Rosa, California, Mike Paschke took a moment to think about the positives of 2009. “I think we managed to scale with the times really well, to cycle the way we needed to with inventories and manage them really well.”
He didn’t have any “really runaway items” but mentioned the Tamron 18–270mm lens did “surprisingly well for us the entire year.”
The year did feature a pleasant surprise—a strong month of October that saw them move high-end items. The month was “a big shining light,” but it happened without any special promotion, and he has no idea why it happened.
The year, he summed up, was “a matter of managing costs and inventories. We didn’t do what we did last year, but the bottom line is that we’re about the same.” But considering the tough going of 2009, managing to manage isn’t half bad.
Back at the beginning I said “almost every dealer” was glad 2009 was over. The exception was Chris Lydle at Chris’ Camera Center South in Aiken, South Carolina. Chris’ Camera was up a double-digit percentage over their previous best year. Chris Lydle attributes the rise to “making fewer mistakes than some of the other guys,” but quickly adds that there was a lot more to it: they increased their breadth of selection in camera brands and accessories; took maximum advantage of the PRO buying group; and increased promotions.
“We’re not the only ones who are feeling challenges,” he said. “The media are, too, and we were able to negotiate some really good media deals in return for making an ongoing commitment.” He also did more direct e-mail than ever, tying the effort into a better point of sale system that harvested a lot more e-mail addresses.
“We also offered more creative services, photos books, custom cards . . . custom everything, and we’ve done a huge amount with camera classes.”
On the accessory front they promoted and sold more lenses, flashes units and small studio flash systems.
His association with the PRO group went from limited membership to full membership, a move that allowed him to buy PRO brand products and get “better than average” deals on several major manufacturers’ items, plus access to the PRO forums for idea exchanges.
Lydle sees himself as perhaps rare, but not unique. “I’m not the only dealer who’s gone ahead this year,” he says, “but I don’t think there are a lot of us.”
Still, it’s nice to end on a positive note.