| | DECEMBER 20208TECHNOLOGY, CONTENT CREATION & THE IMAGING INDUSTRYTWe all want to capture every moment of our life ­ whether on our smartphone or the DSLR. We want to be the photographer of our life! But the past few months of lockdown has clipped the wings of imagination as we were locked within the four walls of our home. But when the whole world was trying to find a ray of hope to engage, entertain and earn at the same time, there was a new community of professionals that captured the market of content creation ­ Vlogger. This indeed is one of the most innovative ways of content creation and engaging with the audience. Hence there is a growing demand for professional cameras.On the other hand, the vloggers are looking for tech-savvy products that can enable them to quickly share their content with their audience. So how is the imaging industry going to address this need of the hour and what other developments await. I spoke to Sajjan Kumar, Managing Director, Nikon India to understand this. He brings over 26 years of vast experience and has been with Nikon India for over a decade. His insights focuses on how the future of imaging will evolve. Let's read.How has been the past few months for Nikon?Not just the past, but the current financial year too are difficult times for the imaging industry. But with things easing out, we hope for the best. Though our sale in April was almost nil, it has started picking up now; however we are still far away from our target.Just like every other industry, imaging industry too have its season that bears more fruit. April, May and June are three such months when it's vacation & wedding time and in both the occasions, people love to capture themselves and their families during the happy times. But as these times are gone this year, we are keeping our fingers crossed and waiting for the festive and wedding season to show some sunshine. Now we see the market opening up and the demand increasing gradually.IN FOCUSBy Anamika Sahu, Managing EditorHowever, the fear of corona still persists and we need to see that how as a society and as an individual, we can overcome this situation. Hence the time isn't right for expecting the business to scale high but survival is the strategy and wait for the good time as far as the business is concerned, but in the current times, we wish that our employees, customers and others remain in good health.What imaging products are witnessing rise in demand?We have two sets of customers ­ professional photographers, but as their business opportunities lay low, our business is at standstill, and the second one is hobbyist or the content creators who got an opportunity to explore themselves through a different medium. It is due to them that the demand for the entry to the mind-range products saw a rise in the market. But during these corona times, whether it's us or the customers, all are slightly reluctant to investment. And hence the buyer and seller engagement is too low.The other thing that has impacted us is rupee depreciation, which has moved almost 10 percent further. These are the smaller fights that have been our concern.Did the imaging industry use this time to reinvent itself in terms of strategy or new invention?No doubt this is a time to look at things completely from a new perspective, and reinvent ourselves. This year hasn't been normal and hence we have also worked on our strategy to keep afloat ­ whether it is cost optimization, to make our products and distribution rules more effective, and even fixing the supply chain which has always been a major concern (both import and in-country distribution).
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