"Amateur Photographer" UK market CSC sales stats

[WESO]

Found the following article somewhat confusing so did not give it a airing here at the time...

Magazine week ending 29th March,
Front cover "CSC's do they have a future"
2 page article "Compact System Camera sales crash"
sales plunged more than 30% in the UK
some key stats
4 x as many DSLRs sold in the UK than CSC's
60% fall in Fuji and Olympus losses fuelled by CSC's
48% of DSLR customers would consider Lumix G range
40% of imaging market sales are online

CSC sales 2011 128,000
2012 146,000
2013 100,000

Magazine week ending 12th April
Front Cover "Why CSC sales are up again"
article, CSC stage comeback
Global shipments rose 33.7% to 217,444 in Feb compared to the same month a year earlier. (maybe EM10 being shipped)
In the Uk CSC sales shot up 21% in volume and 19% in value in Jan/Feb 2014.
Seemingly the demise of Jessups last year with the loss of 187 stores in the uk had a immediate effect on high street sales and has skewed the uk's year on year results.

My own views - talking to friendly sales staff in a branch of London camera exchange near my work place about micro 4/3rds last week they said that the trade know how good the system is and many use them but they cannot persuade the buying public of same. Typical customer cannot see outside the Canon/Nikon bubble and sadly Canon/Nikon CSCs not that competitive.

I have just bought a new EM 10 had to have it in black as I wanted a body only and silver was sold out. Some kits were still available as at end of March but I had to phone 7 different suppliers to track down a body only, turned out I had Clifton Cameras last body. They told me Olympus uk was waiting on more sometime in April. Would love to know how many EM 10's have been sold...
Would welcome any views on the above.:smile:

 

[pdk42]

Funny, I bought that issue of AP just this last weekend. I don't normally buy photo mags since they always annoy/ disappoint me. This purchase didn't change my view and I must say the article on CSC camera sales "crashing" was just awful. Confusing, badly written and contradictory. Didn't stop them putting "CSC sales crash" in 48 point bold headlines though!

 

[kevinparis]

amazed that Amateur Photographer still exists as a printed magazine... bought it religiously 35 years ago!!!!

god i feel old



K

 

[WESO]

Funny, I bought that issue of AP just this last weekend. I don't normally buy photo mags since they always annoy/ disappoint me. This purchase didn't change my view and I must say the article on CSC camera sales "crashing" was just awful. Confusing, badly written and contradictory. Didn't stop them putting "CSC sales crash" in 48 point bold headlines though!

I know, dreadful article most confusing set of stats i have seen in a while, and i spend most of my working day preparing stats for a living.
I must admit the monthly magazines at least in the UK are pretty poor and my relationship with AP the only weekly on the market here is struggling.
So much info on the web thesedays who needs a magazine!

 

[WESO]

amazed that Amateur Photographer still exists as a printed magazine... bought it religiously 35 years ago!!!!

god i feel old


K

Me too! loved the magazine in it's earlier days. It was at least 4 times as many pages then and like many amateurs with a passion for "gear" would start at the back and work my way through it. How the photo retail market has changed with the internet and the loss of so many retailers. I am sure my poor eyesight is down to reading the small ads and lists of used equipment many years ago!.
This weeks issue is just 90 pages.... The marketplace dealer and classified guide starts at page 66 and it's index lists just 26 different advertisers.
Just changing times i am amazed it manages to continue.
Mark

 

[Robstar1963]

I know, dreadful article most confusing set of stats i have seen in a while, and i spend most of my working day preparing stats for a living.
I must admit the monthly magazines at least in the UK are pretty poor and my relationship with AP the only weekly on the market here is struggling.
So much info on the web thesedays who needs a magazine!

I always prefer a hard copy magazine to thumb through compared to online articles or magazine apps - it's a much better experience and there will always be a place for 'real' magazines for me
Talking of current magazines - I would recommend Digital SLR Photography - there is always a focus on great pictures which I always enjoy and get inspiration from
Regards
Rob

 

[WESO]

Thanks for the recommendation will take a look
Mark

 

[Robstar1963]

Phone 0844 249 0482 and you can get the next 5 copies for £1 each and possibly a free gift (were giving away a Manfrotto monopod) as well as the reduced issue cost
No obligation to continue
Regards
Rob

 

[OzRay]

Phone 0844 249 0482 and you can get the next 5 copies for £1 each and possibly a free gift (were giving away a Manfrotto monopod) as well as the reduced issue cost
No obligation to continue
Regards
Rob

What? They'll give you £1 for each magazine that you'll accept. That's pretty woeful, it should be a fair bit more in my view.

I haven't bought a photo magazine for over 20 years, they are pretty much all rubbish, recycling the same old stuff and padding the magazines with more ads than articles. I prefer internet blogs, forums and the like, as at least then you can pick and choose and even debate issues, which magazines would probably ignore.

 

[kevinparis]

I happen to have an old Amateur Photographer to hand - July 4 1979 price 30p ...I can't remember if it was published weekly or fortnightly

I snapped a few pages for fun... some forgotten names and some interesting prices - all of it out of my price range in 1979

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this is the 70's equivalent of a RAW processor

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and just think of the light gathering possible with ISO 100!!!

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So in those days an OM2 was the price equivalent of buying a 1000 copies of the magazine

I am guessing that the current cover price is 2.99, which kind of makes an OMD-EM1 a bit of a bargain relatively





K

 

[WESO]

Great stuff those were the days must get a random old copy from eBay for old times sake
Bet the page count was much higher then
Thanks for that

 

[OzRay]

No forgotten names there, I still have my Minolta SRT 303 and Pentax MX, and Ricoh and Praktica were household names. However, Olympus prices were never that competitive with Minolta or Pentax in Oz in the day, they were way more expensive, which is why I never owned one but always wanted one.

 

[WESO]

Current cover price £2.85 in uk