Finding New Opportunities in Every Crisis
C. Sukumaran, Director, Consumer System Products and Imaging Communication Products, Canon India, reveals the company’s strategies
The Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdown it has induced, does not appear to ease any time soon, and its impact on businesses is still far from over. Smart Photography spoke to C. Sukumaran, Director, Consumer System Products and Imaging Communication Products, Canon India, to find out about Canon’s strategies to overcome this crisis.
All businesses are going through a tough phase in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. What are the new challenges brought forth by the lockdown situation? What are Canon’s plans for business continuity in imaging sector during the lockdown?
The current situation has impacted all of us and we are now facing one of the biggest challenges from the growing effect of this pandemic. Our topmost priority as a brand is to ensure the safety and well-being of our employees, partners, customers and the community where we live and work. While there has been an in luence on consumer sentiments, however, this evolving landscape has also led to an increase in demand from content creators and vloggers and the category is expected to grow substantially in the coming year. This is fuelling demand for our mid and pro D-SLR and mirrorless categories and we will be focussing on these new emerging segments by introducing new products. We are continuing to witness tremendous growth in multiple genres of professional photography and our two recently launched cameras will be a perfect it for professional photographers and cinematographers.
Maintaining constant connect and engagement, our marketing and sales promotion activities have been utilising the latest technologies and platforms to reach out to potential consumers. Through our expansive product lineup, we are committed to further fuel growth and build a strong imaging market in the country. We are actively exploring new business opportunities from complementing products and brands, helping our channel partners expand their product portfolio.
Could you elaborate on the new products that have been launched, and share a rough product roadmap for 2020-21?
We are elated to have launched our latest revolutionary full-frame mirrorless cameras EOS R5 and EOS R6 in India as well as globally. This launch is a special milestone for us, as we introduced two of our most innovative and state of the art cameras together in the EOS R series. With game changing features, these cameras highlight our commitment and constant endeavour to deliver premium products to our consumers while encouraging them to push new frontiers in the imaging space.
Both the EOS R5 and R6 have been created keeping in mind the requirements of the professional segment including wedding photographers, fashion photographers and cinematographers. While the EOS R5 will cater to the professional segment with its advanced features, the EOS R6 will cater to high amateur photographers and videographers who want to scale up from their entry-level camera. The EOS R5 features 8K movie recording, a new 45.0 megapixels full frame CMOS sensor while the EOS R6 features 4K movie recording, advanced 20.1 megapixels full frame CMOS
sensor. They are both poised to take the EOS legacy forward by having the best in class speci ications for both still photographers and cinematographers.
We additionally launched a series of lens including the RF 85 mm f/2 Macro IS STM, RF 600 mm f/11 IS STM, RF 800 mm f/11 IS STM, RF 100-500 mm f/4.5-7.1L IS USM, Extender RF 1.4X and RF2X along with other accessories to provide its consumers with a complete ecosystem.
With major imaging segments such as travel, sports, weddings and wildlife virtually at a standstill, we expect a major transformation in the portfolios of imaging companies. How does Canon plan to tap into the change in consumption patterns forced upon by the Covid-19 pandemic?
The pandemic has presently impacted almost all the sectors and there has been a shift in the preferences and consumption patterns of consumers. This is a time for all businesses to innovate and adapt quicker than ever before and guide their businesses towards success while catering to the evolved needs of consumers. As an organisation we are taking a deep look into our situation and strategising both on the short-term and long-term perspectives. We believe that a crisis situation also presents an opportunity for businesses to think differently and create innovative content to capture the attention of its consumers.
Capturing moments and creating memories will always be an important culture that will be cherished forever. The means and mode may change, however, photography is always here to stay. For many, photography is their career and they will continue to invest in professional cameras that will give them the best output and experience. Whether it is a wedding of small scale or large scale, professional cameras are required to capture the precious moments.
Hence, the need of the hour for us would be to aggressively build positive mindshare and revive consumer interest for products, with a strategic focus on the new business potential that has emerged out from the current landscape. For instance, with the surge in demand from content creators on social media and OTT platforms, we are positive that once the situation eases, there will be good momentum in the industry.
The surge in OTT and online education demands are expected to push forward some product segments that were otherwise overshadowed by the cameras— such as printers, scanners and projectors. Could you share the details of some of these products?
In the current situation, one of the biggest potentials for us lies in the home printing solutions. With working from home and studying from home becoming the new norm, our Pixma G Series has been gaining good response in the market and is widely accepted because of its lower running cost and higher return on investment. As per our studies and market feedback, we are seeing a surge in demand for laptops, printers and internet connection and we estimate a big opportunity of 30% printer penetration into potential connected homes. Interestingly, printer was amongst the top 10 most searched product on e-commerce platforms during lockdown and inktank printers are speci ically the favourite choice among the home consumers.
With restrictions in movement, sales and support seems to be a problem area for customers. How do you plan to tackle this situation?
Our service outreach has been one of the key backbone behind our operations during these unprecedented times. Keeping up with the present scenario, we have provided detailed guidelines to MSC for the sanitation of the products which will be received for the repairs. Due to the nature of service, the service delivery at MSC cannot be contact less, but we are taking all the prescribed measures as per the Government mandates, such as ensuring social distancing, compulsory use of masks by the employees and customers and deploying hand sanitisers. Additionally, we are constantly reviewing the distribution and retail structure, ensuring easy and quick access to Canon products and services for our consumers.
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