Leica shows bricks and mortar presence can still be a success
THE head of Leica’s local operations says he doesn’t see any signs of a retail recession as the German camera maker opens its third Australian store.
And an embrace of a bricksand-mortar network – a move that runs counter to the rise of online retailing – has delivered the premium camera brand double-digit annual sales growth over the past three years, the company says.
“I can’t talk about others but for us we are not in a retail recession,” Leica Camera Australia managing director Ryan Williams tells Business Daily.
“We are finding the market quite healthy at the moment.”
Leica will open its third Australian store at the nation’s biggest shopping centre, Chadstone, in December.
It opened its first Australian store at the Queen Victoria Building in central Sydney during 2016 and followed that with an outlet at the St Collins Lane shopping centre, in the Melbourne CBD, last year.
The 105-year-old camera brand had previously only sold its products through thirdparty retailers.
But it saw an opportunity to better connect with a loyal customer base that spans professional photographers, enthusiasts and collectors.
“The aim was to bring more customer focus to the brand with the retail stores,” Mr Williams said.
The local success of Leica, whose products range from $1550 to $40,000, highlights the patchy nature of Australia’s retail sector.
While some brands are finding outsized success, other Australian heavyweights such as upmarket department store chain David Jones have declared the retail sector to be in a recession.
David Jones’ South Africn parent company, Woolworths Holdings, has written hundreds of millions of dollars off the value of the retailer.
Mr Williams said Leica’s approach to its store network was to use it to create excitement around photography – and hopefully attract new customers – rather than simply stacking shelves with products.
The high-end Leica outlets follow the Apple model of retail – a showroom rather than retail barn. At Leica, half the floor space is taken up with a photography gallery.
Leica stores host regular exhibitions, as well as workshops and talks by Australian and international photographers.
The Chadstone store will open with an exhibition from famed Magnum photographer Thomas Hoepker.