Bloomber published an interesting article about the new Leica stores in the US. The information is basically nothing new, but it is interesting to see how they report about Leica Camera AG. One outstanding fact is that Bloomberg, like so many others, put the $27,000 Leica S2 prominently into the foreground, including its price. By doing so they create the impression that there is nothing else on the market within this price range, totally ignoring the fact that the Leica S2 is performance wise above most of its competition. Other cameras that do measure up to the Leica S2, not surprisingly, sell within the same price range.
Noticeably missing in this report is the new Leica M Monochrome which has proven to be currently without equal, as well as any mention of the many other Leica products that are far from the price of the Leica S2.
Bloomberg: Leica Debuts Own U.S. Shops With $27,000 Digital Camera
For the camera’s maker,
Leica Camera AG (LCA1), the challenge is compounded by the
fact that it has lost more than a third of its U.S. dealers to competition from
the likes of
Best Buy Co. (BBY)
and
Costco Wholesale
Corp. (COST) So, at a time when many brands are moving online, the German
camera maker is opening stores.
Eric Oberg, general manager of a Leica Camera AG concept store,
handles a Leica S-series digital SLR camera before the opening of the company's
first North American retail store in Washington, D.C.. Photographer: Jonathan
Ernst/Bloomberg
.Alfred Schopf, chief executive officer of Leica Camera AG.
Photographer: Joshua Roberts/Bloomberg
A Leica Camera AG M7 rangefinder camera is displayed during the
grand opening of the Leica concept store in Washington, D.C. Photographer:
Joshua Roberts/Bloomberg
Leica Camera AG binoculars and spotting scopes are displayed
during the grand opening of the Leica concept store in Washington, D.C.
Photographer: Joshua Roberts/Bloomberg
A man uses a Leica Camera AG S2 digital SLR camera during the
grand opening of the Leica concept store in Washington, D.C. Photographer:
Joshua Roberts/Bloomberg
The first U.S. location debuted in Washington last month, and Leica plans one
each in Miami and
New York this summer. By March, 2016, the company says its
current roster of 37 stores will have grown to 200 worldwide. They stock a range
of models from the entry-level $700 V-Lux 40 point-and-shoot to the top-
of-the-line $27,000 S2.
“It is a high-risk strategy,” Walter Loeb, president of Loeb Associates Inc.,
a New York-based retail consulting firm, said in a telephone interview. “Leica
needs to establish itself more directly in the U.S. but it’s a small market for
high- priced cameras and it’s highly competitive.”
Leica is opening stores at a time when U.S. consumers are buying fewer
cameras because many are using phones such as Apple Inc.’s iPhone to take
photos. Last year, Americans spent $6.2 billion on cameras, down 8.3 percent
from 2010, the Consumer Electronics Association estimates. The average price
per-camera was $173. Leica says it has less than 1 percent of the market, while
Canon Inc. (7751) and
Nikon Corp. (7731)
command 42 percent between them, according Mintel, a research firm based in
London.
Dodged Bankruptcy
The store rollout is part of Chief Executive Officer Alfred Schopf’s efforts
to turn around the Solms, Germany-based company, which was slow to embrace
digital technology. In 2004, the company dodged bankruptcy; two years later,
French luxury handbag maker
Hermes
International (RMS) SCA sold its 36 percent stake in Leica, ending a
relationship that began in 2000. Since then sales have recovered, in part
because Leica managed to merge its engineering prowess with new digital
technology.
The shares have jumped 82 percent in the past 12 months.
The maker of photo equipment, hunting lenses and nature- watching products
has been developing its new store design for more than three years. It includes
a retail space, a studio area to demonstrate products and a gallery -- to
exhibit photographs shot with Leica cameras -- that can be converted into a
lecture room for the company’s Leica Akademie photography courses.
“We didn’t want it to be seen like an average store with Japan brand 1 and
Japan brand 2 and Korean brand 1 and Korean brand 2,” Schopf, 53, said in an
interview in
Washington. “We stand for a certain image of quality and
this is something we wanted to show in this environment. We are showing a
dedication to the quality of photography.”
Rich History
He wouldn’t say how much Leica is spending on the stores.
Leica chose the U.S. capital as its first U.S. location because the area’s
economy has been thriving during the uneven U.S. recovery, has strong unmet
local demand, and has a rich history of photojournalism, said Roland Wolff,
director of corporate retail for Leica’s U.S. arm.
The stores -- some operated by Leica; some by authorized dealers under a
joint investment arrangement -- are luxurious and minimalist like the cameras.
They feature black leather furniture from
Germany and
gray tiles from
Italy. The sole color accent: the red of the Leica logo.
Leica’s compact cameras, introduced in the 1920s, revolutionized photography.
They were developed by German optical engineer Oskar Barnack, who had worked in
microscope research and was employed by an optician called Ernst Leitz in
Wetzlar, Germany.
Photographer Founder
Barnack was an avid photographer who suffered from asthma and wanted
equipment for outdoor photography that was easier to use than the heavy plate
cameras of the day. He introduced a small-format 35mm-camera in 1925, using a
brand name that was a combination of the name Leitz and the word “camera.”
In 1932, about 90,000 Leicas were in use; by 1961, a million. Milestones
include the rangefinder cameras such as the Leica M3 introduced in 1954 and the
M6 in 1984. The R-System debuted in 1976 with the R3, which was the company’s
first electronic model. Leica cameras have captured many an indelible image,
from Alberto Korda’s portrait of Che Guevara to Huynh Cong Ut’s “Napalm Girl” to
Jim Marshall’s photo of
Janis Joplin with a bottle of Southern Comfort.
In 1998, the company introduced the Digilux, its first digital compact
camera. By then, however, Leica had lost customers to Canon and Nikon.
Candid Shots
Sales rallied after it introduced digital versions of its iconic 1950s-era M
camera. The M series is the “best tool” for photojournalists because it’s quiet
-- making it ideal for close-up, candid shots -- and highly durable, Wolff said.
The company still makes film cameras, though digital models generate more than
90 percent of sales.
Sales surged 57 percent to 248.8 million euros ($309.7 million) in Leica’s
most recent year, and the company’s improving prospects prompted Blackstone
Group LP to take an indirect 44 percent stake. In the year ended March 2011,
consolidated income grew more than tenfold to 36.3 million euros ($45.2
million).
While revenue doubled in the past two years, it will rise just 10 percent
this year because demand is outstripping manufacturing capacity, according to
Schopf. The company is working to expand output, he said. On April 25, Leica
broke ground on a new headquarters in Wetzlar, where visiting Leica buffs will
be able to watch the cameras being made.
Besides opening its own stores, Leica also has built 54 boutiques inside
authorized dealers.
“It is a way to make sure your brand is presented the way you want,” Wolff
said. “We want to offer more than just product. We want to inspire with the
photographs, we want to share what people can do with the product.”
For some Leica aficionados that means taking photos the old-fashioned way.
The first camera sold at the new Washington store: one that uses film.
