Below is a summary that I picked up from Photizo in reference to the State of our Industry. I posted a rebuttal at the end. Enjoy!
In the first quarter of 2013, for the first time in two years the hard copy industry’s revenue rose year-on-year. But, it turns out, a closer look demonstrates that the gains were entirely the result of the weakening yen, which boosted the overseas sales of Japanese companies in yen terms, even though those same sales were down in local-currency terms.
Total first-quarter industry revenue (based on the ten companies that report their hard copy revenue) was up $700 million, to $24.2 billion. But a perusal of the results of five Japanese companies that provide sufficient data to make the analysis (Canon, Ricoh, Seiko Epson, Konica Minolta, and Brother) shows that the yen alone boosted their sales by $1.6 billion, which in turn means that the industry’s revenue was actually down around $1 billion, rather than up.
So it is the same sad story again: The industry’s decline continues, even if exchange rates have temporarily distorted the picture.
MY View
Charles, good stuff. However with me being on the front lines of selling imaging devices for 30 plus years, I'm still seeing a variety of conditions lead me to believe that the industry in NOT in decline.
Here's what I see:
More end users opting to buy their leased equipment at the end of the lease
Buyers remain fickle about the economy at least here in the US, and then they may have upgraded 6-12 month prior to the end of the lease they are holding on to the last moment to make a move on their equipment
The economy, after the Great Recession (which I believe has not ended), companies are trying to more with less
Companies are turning to used equipment more frequently than they did prior to 2008
Many companies went out of business during the last five years
More companies are purchasing equipment and leasing with $1.00 purchase options which enables them to lengthen the life cycle of the imaging equipment
When I look at the number of units sold after 2008, that number is steady with no decline
I offer than we are not in decline, the industry in the last 5 years has seen a major recession here in the US and now in the Euro community. With the industry being down by 1 billion that represents a 5% decline. If that's all we've lost with what we've gone through in the last 5 years with the Great Recession, the Great Earthquake & tsunami in Japan, the flooding in Thailand, Hurricane Irene in 2011 and then Hurricane Sandy in 2012, then I think we've done pretty well.
Art
-=Good Selling=-
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