'We Hope To See Greater Momentum In Market': Canon India
How does Canon see this festive season? What are your plans for leveraging the festive trends?
India represents a unique demographic, and with the diverse geographic and cultural enormity, the festive season here always brews up immense excitement among consumers. Individuals and organizations across the world faced unprecedented circumstances in the last 2 years due to COVID-19, however we all have shown our resilience and willingness to emerge stronger. With the return of normalcy and improvement in the market landscape this year, we anticipate a renewed vigor among consumers as they gear up for festivities across the country. At Canon, we too are fully charged up to make the most of the festive season with our diverse range of imaging solutions.
Over the years, we have seen a positive response from consumers during the past festive seasons. In line with our philosophy of Customer Delight, we truly believe that a happy customer leads to immense growth of the brand. Hence, through our pan-India initiatives and customized offers, we hope to see greater momentum in the market, especially with interesting launches lined up for the festive season and scale our growth by end of the year.
Festive season leads to more content creation. How are you planning to leverage these trends? Any specific products lined up for content creators?
Festive season is all about families and loved ones coming together and creating memories; it is that time of the year when individuals across households want to capture these moments. Festive season also provides an opportunity for content creators, especially social media influencers, to innovate and be creative through their content to be relatable and reach out to maximum audience.
Keeping the same in mind, this year we have expanded our line of EOS cameras with the launch of EOS R7 and EOS R10 which are the first cameras in the EOS R mirrorless system to be equipped with APS-C image sensors. With the launch of these two new cameras’, we aim to address the need of the community to have a camera which bridges the functionality offered by EOS R System mirrorless cameras but with the affordability quotient. These exemplary and most advanced cameras to date offer creators functionalities such as speed to capture iconic moments, recording long and high-quality movie footages, unparallel focus, speed and precision and advanced communication functionality. Its compact size, built-in popup-style flash and microphone make it the finest choice for vloggers and photo enthusiasts.
What is Canon’s market share in India?
Aided by our full line up strategy, we take immense pride in maintaining the number one share in the global DILC segment for 19 consecutive years, from 2003 to 2021. We are proud to be recognized as one of the leading imaging brands in the country with a 50 per cent market share in the overall DILC category as we continue to drive innovation in every aspect of our business. The mirrorless camera industry in India is growing exponentially and is expected to grow even more steadily in the near future. The segment has gained immense popularity in India in the past few years and contributes immensely to our overall business at the moment.
Similarly, for our B2B business as well, we have retained number one market share in the overall Laser Copier Market (A3/A4 category) for six consecutive years—2016-2021—and retaining it in H1 2022 as well. (Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly Hardcopy Peripherals Tracker Q2 2022, September 2022 release). In the inkjet wide format segment as well, we have grown in FY 2022 on year-to-date basis over FY 2019 by more than 150 per cent in terms of units.
Also, 2022 marks Canon India's 25th anniversary. How has been the journey so far?
Having started our journey in India 25 years ago, we take great pride to have carved a niche in the country driven by innovation and customer trust. This year we are celebrating our 25-year legacy, which has not only been shaped by exceptional ideas and innovations, but also an enduring passion for creating great experiences for our consumers. With a pan India presence, both our B2B and B2C businesses are well-poised with an extensive reach across the length and breadth of the country through an array of 360-degree input-to-output solutions which also indicates immense customer trust in our offerings.
India is recognized globally for its innovation and entrepreneurial capabilities and holds great potential to build world-class products and technology. It has been a delight to lead the Indian market as I admire the people here for their hard work and persistent focus on innovation-led growth. It has been over 1 year for me working in the Indian market and it has been an exciting experience with immense learnings and insights into the Indian psyche.
What are the latest trends in various segments?
The demand for video content equipment has seen a massive increase, owing to the rise in content creation, media streaming platforms, and OTT production houses. Today, India has world’s largest user base of 225 Mn users hooked to video streaming and in 2022, OTT (Over the Top) revenue was estimated at US$ 2 billion. In the next 3 years, the video market is expected to touch US$ 18 billion. This category is expected to grow even further in the coming years, and we aim to meet this growing demand with our line-up of cinema cameras. We are currently working on creating innovative products that imbues our video first approach, tailor-made to suit the needs of today’s new-age customers; be it to support online content creation or OTT content production. Keeping these trends at the forefront, we are working on strengthening our presence in our existing segments, along with carving a niche in emerging segments including Education technology, OTT, House of Worship, Vlogging and Virtual Reality as we strive to be a one-stop-shop solution for all videography needs.
In the last five years, we have observed expansion in the professional segment fostered by the growth of wedding photography in Tier-II, III and IV areas. We see this as a growing trend wherein youngsters are picking up wedding photography because it helps them earn more money and we see them opting for full-frame mirrorless cameras and buying professional gear.
How you looking at tackling the challenge for fake products such as cartridges and inks?
Genuine Canon ink, toner and paper are designed to work in perfect harmony with Canon printers to ensure consistent high quality, reliable performance and excellent value with every print. At times, it is also difficult to tell a counterfeit ink cartridge from the real thing, because the product packaging can be very similar. However, the quality of the contents can be distinguished. It is our constant endeavor to educate customers about these advantages of using genuine consumables which can elevate their product experience.
We have over 1500 Original Ink Cartridge (OIC) stores across India, aimed at engaging and educating consumers about the detriments of buying forfeit cartridges, and further encouraging them to buy authentic brand offerings. Further, we also leverage our wide partner network to increase the availability of Canon products and genuine consumables for users.
