Eagle Optics to stop carrying Nikon ? (1 Viewer)

I think there could be a specific reason for what customers outside of Japan sometimes feel to be odd with Nikon like some of the things described in this thread. Nikon does like many other Japanese companies as well, mainly concentrate on their home market. Their home market is big enough to make a living. The companies in the US and Europe and anywhere else outside Japan that sell items under the brand's name are separated from Nikon and completely autonomous. These companies are just importers and distributors of Nikon items with in many cases limited interest in optics and communication with Japan or birders in their countries. I can very well imagine that these folks are probably business men only and Nikon don't care very much what they are doing in far away markets. It seems to me that among these companies Nikon USA is more customer orientated compared to the importers in other countries. An example is the participation of Mike Friberg here on BF.

Steve

hinnark said:

I think there could be a specific reason for what customers outside of Japan sometimes feel to be odd with Nikon like some of the things described in this thread. Nikon does like many other Japanese companies as well, mainly concentrate on their home market.

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Japan makes a significant living exporting heavy machinery especially to China, as well as exporting consumer goods to the West. Apparently less than 10% of Nikon's cameras are sold in the home market, which means that over 90% are exported. I suspect the figures are similar for binoculars and scopes. Nikon is also one of the top four manufacturers of microscopes, along with Leica, Olympus and Zeiss, and they make plenty of other products too.

As regards Nikon USA, the camera forums are full of American moaning about Nikon USA, and their poor service e.g. not supplying user replaceable components. As you say, Nikon USA is an independent entity.

hinnark said:

I think there could be a specific reason for what customers outside of Japan sometimes feel to be odd with Nikon like some of the things described in this thread. Nikon does like many other Japanese companies as well, mainly concentrate on their home market. Their home market is big enough to make a living. The companies in the US and Europe and anywhere else outside Japan that sell items under the brand's name are separated from Nikon and completely autonomous. These companies are just importers and distributors of Nikon items with in many cases limited interest in optics and communication with Japan or birders in their countries. I can very well imagine that these folks are probably business men only and Nikon don't care very much what they are doing in far away markets. It seems to me that among these companies Nikon USA is more customer orientated compared to the importers in other countries. An example is the participation of Mike Friberg here on BF.

Steve

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Steve,

According to the pdf posted by Pete that showed the financial breakdown of the company in 2009, Nikon's home market for its products is actually its smallest market. The largest are in order of sales - the Americas (36%), Europe (32%), "Asia & Others" (18%), and Japan (14%). So apparently their "home market" is not big enough to make their living.

Seeing that Europe is almost as big a market for Nikon as the US and Canada (and the rest of the Americas), it's even more surprising that the company's warranty, customer and repair service is not closer to par with the U.S.

I don't know if Nikon USA or Nikon AG are completely "autonomous" as you suggest. Not sure where you are getting that information, although if so, it could explain why the Europe has such a different experience with warranties and service than the U.S.

It would seem that Nikon would try to exert uniform control AMAP over the customer experience throughout the world to prevent dealers like Jan going on forums such as these and dissing Nikon's products and turning potential customers off to buying the brand. That has a direct impact on Nikon's bottom line back in Japan.

It seems that customers from every country that post here have a fairly uniform experience with Swarovski's products, which is to say, a good experience. Of course, Swaro isn't as large and as diversified a company as Nikon, and certainly not in sports optics. But Swaro too has divisions such as SONA. Are they "autonomous"?

So there's a piece of the puzzle missing here, and it might well be as you suggest, but if so, I wonder why Nikon would allow this disparity in customers' experience from around the world and only offer a 2-year warranty for sports optics in Malaysia when "Asia & Others" are its fastest growing market (the only market in the report predicted to increase - from 18% to 22% for 2010).

I also think it's too speculative (what me, complaining about someone being too speculative? to attribute "these folks are probably business men only and Nikon don't care very much what they are doing in far away markets". Businessmen very much care about making profits. They do not enter a type of business and a market to lose money or to have stagnant sales. Like Jan, who very much cares what goes on in his market, I'm sure those dealers/distributors who deal in Nikon products elsewhere want to make sure Nikon products sell in the markets they are in, otherwise, why even be in the business? Get into shale gas or oil or feed, seed, and fertilizer? Or pork belly futures!

Consumer items are risky because sales go as the economy goes. Even in the report, Nikon was predicting lower sales in 2010 from Europe, America, and even slightly less from Japan, no doubt due the recession.

I'd like to see more evidence that Nikon's various regional divisions have full autonomy and also that these businessmen "don't care very much what they are doing in far away markets."

I think there are obviously problems with Nikon's customer service and warranty service in some markets, but I'm not sure if the reasons you outlined are why. They might be, but I see no hard evidence of this, and to some degree, it doesn't make good business sense.

<S>

Brock,

I could not agree more.
I can just add that AFAIK SONA is autonomous.

Jan

If anyone cares to, could they take a squint at the Nikon financial reports on their corporate info site. As far as I can tell, the results they report are consolidated i.e. they should include sales out by the regional offices that are shown as wholly-owned subs of the company.

But as noted in an earlier post, that would seem to suggest that sports optics are not where one would generally expect them to be from e.g. GfK data and the general perception of retailers (both in EU and US markets).

As Jan mentioned, internal transfer prices do not directly relate to "sell out" prices (and a 4x mark up is possibly conservative) but the figures seem to suggest that what is reported is sales results by the consolidated company so should relate to sales from Nikon to its trade or retail customers.

Confused? You will be!

Pete

Pete, thanks for the information about this PDF-file by Nikon. I have now found the time to take a look at it. One conclusion one could take is that Nikon Sports Optics with a share of only 4% within the "Other Business" sector has compared, for instance, with the "Imaging" department very small meaning for the company and very likely even more so for the importers of Nikon products. Businessmen tend to concentrate on the cash cows and this is photo and not sport optics, I guess. The numbers given from that report, from an entrepreneur's point of view, I wonder why they're still in such a small business. I can imagine that's not because of commercial reasons.

Steve

jan van daalen said:

Brock,

I could not agree more.
I can just add that AFAIK SONA is autonomous.

Jan

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I was wrong with this post.
Only Spain and Portugal are still autonomous.
SONA does all the repairs for the US and produce also the Z3 and Z5 riflescope.
Jan