Monday, February 28, 2011

Fujifilm – A company without a message?

You would think that Fuji would ensure that their subsidiaries follow a fairly standard marketing plan. One key aspect would be to offer all of the new spring cameras on their web sites. Speed of retiring previous models could perhaps be left to the local companies in order to manage inventories etc.

But the wildly different lineups makes one wonder who is in charge of the overall company … and does he or she have any pull at all at the regional level?

Globally, the F series shows the three new compacts for example, the 500 and 550 that I have already reported on, and the newer 505, which tradition would say is a European variant of the 500 but which is in fact a hybrid of features between the 500 and 550. The older cameras still mentioned are the F300 and F80, which are the latest pair of cameras.

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The US subsidiary, on the other hand, shows only two models. Strange …

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And Canada shows pretty much every model ever made … but leaves out the low-end models of the spring cameras … what up wit dat?

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Things are much more confused in Europe though … the UK site shows only three of the F series … and none of the new cameras.

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France is a bit better, with the new models (minus the elusive 505) showing up with the last three as well.

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It’s awfully clear that the companies are all independent and that they all have different ideas on how to market the parent company’s products. I wonder if this is one of Fuji’s problems where market share is concerned? If you cannot marshal your forces to a consistent theme, then how do you expect to compete against those who can?

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