Nikon India Private Limited, the 100 per cent subsidiary of Nikon Corporation, is eyeing a 20 per cent market share by end of March 2011 in India, up from the current 15 per cent share in the country.
We are targeting to achieve 20 percent market share in India by end of this financial year. To promote our products company have already appointed 200 promoters across the country," said Hiroshi Takashina, managing director of Nikon India. Takashina was in town to launch the company's first Nikon D-SLR Zone in Saurashtra region of Gujarat.
However, Takashina denied any plans to invest in India citing a less than one per cent contribution of the country to Nokia's overall business. Yet, the company does plan to up its retail presence in India. "Nikon is targeting 1800 retail outlets for in store branding," said Jitender Chugh, deputy general manager, sales and marketing, Nikon India.
Even as Nikon India rolls out the D-SLR Zone in Saurashtra, the company has been able to consolidate its pan-India plans for D-SLR Zones and COOLPIX Zones. Nokia India has already set up more than 60 such stores in the country in in cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Coimbatore, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Allahabad, Chandigarh, Roorkee, Agra, Dehradun, Bhubaneswar, Visakhapatnam, Kochi, Jalandhar, Patiala, Nagpur, Siliguri, Ranchi, Patna, Sirsa, and Trichur, among others.
On their part, dealers are upbeat about the zone as they expect the launch to push up sales of professional and non-professional cameras and lenses. "Market of non professional camera is increasing in the region. Every year we are selling more than 1500 non professional cameras and about 700 professional cameras," said Shashi Patel, owner of Boss Color Lab and authorized retailer of Nikon D-SLR zone in Rajkot while talking about Saurashtra market.
Apart from the Nikon D-SLR Zone in Rajkot, the company has also launched its first Nikon COOLIPX Zone in Jamnagar for the Saurashtra region.
Nikon India distributes markets and services the complete range of Nikon imaging products, including its Nikon D-SLR as well as its compact camera, the Nikon COOLPIX and a range of NIKKOR lenses and service and repair of Industrial products. These include microscopes and technical measuring instruments.