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The Australian Industry and Market for Photographic (and Related) Products ____________________________________________________________________ Contents Summary Page
1 Section 1 – Size
Distribution of Businesses Page
5 Section 2 – Industry Sales
Performance Page
10 Section 3 – Consumer
Expenditure Analysis Page
20 Section 4 – International
Trade Page
21 Section 5 – Industry
Structure Page
24 Section 6 – The Impact of
Changing Demographics Page
27 Section 7 – The Impact of
Changing Technology Page
30 Industry Market Segmentation Appendix
A TISC Classification of Imports Appendix
B Changes in Demography Appendix
C Household Expenditure
Surveys and the CPI Appendix
D Summary ___________________________________________________________________________ This study marshals available statistics on the photography and related products industries, the goods and services they produce in response to business and consumer demand for their outputs, and how the resulting markets have evolved (and can be expected to continue to evolve in the future). The
information which is drawn together in this report comes substantially from two
sources: Ø statistics and other
information compiled by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Ø and information compiled by
Informark (as part of its market monitoring activities). The
two sources are complementary: Ø ABS
statistics tend to be aggregate in nature (ie for publication purposes the
items of interest tend to be included with other like goods and services –
which in many cases can be considered as substitutes competing for the
commercial 'imaging dollar' in the case of business demand, and the
'recreational dollar' in the case of consumer demand) Ø while Informark compiles its
reports according to industry-specified definition of the markets and
sub-markets of interest. In
addition, some additional relevant information (viz on the impact of
technology) was uncovered during the course of compiling this report Ø
and this has therefore also been included. Size Distribution of Businesses Using
estimated annual turnover as an indicator of size, the manufacturing side of
the photography and related products business is slightly skewed towards
relatively larger firms compared with all businesses operating in the
Australian economy. Firms
in both the wholesaling and retailing sides of the business also tend to be
relatively large. On
the other hand, firms involved in film processing and in photographic studios
tend to be relatively small. Industry Sales Performance ABS
Retail Sales Series Sales
of photography and related products are classified by the ABS to Other recreational goods retailing
(along with sport and camping equipment and toys and games) in its monthly
retail turnover publication. Other
recreational goods retailing accounted, on average, for around one-third of
goods and services classified to Recreational
goods throughout 2001 which, in turn, comprised just over 1½ percent of
total retail turnover. Over
the period since 1982 (when the ABS first published separate estimates of the
Other recreational goods component of retail turnover), some distinctive trends
have emerged, including: Ø the gradual emergence of a
distinctive seasonal pattern which has asserted itself from 1989 and whose
amplitude has become increasingly pronounced over time Ø the apparent peaking of
turnover for this category of goods in 1999 Ø and some evidence of
pull-forward sales prior to the introduction of the GST in July 2000. An exercise to project future sales of Other recreational goods retailing twelve months ahead (ie through to October 2002) was undertaken for this study (see Section 2) using time series analysis techniques. The resulting projections (Figure 2.2 and Table 2.2) anticipate a repetition of the seasonal pattern of recent years, with a January peak of $357.4 million and a February trough of $173.3 million. In line with the most recent trends, sales of goods classified to Other recreational goods retailing are expected to moderate (although not necessarily in the case of the photographic and related goods component of this grouping of goods for publication purposes). Informark
“Sell-In” Series Section
2 presents a series of graphs portraying how the wholesale sales market for
photography and related products has evolved over the last 5 years or so – both
in aggregate terms and disaggregated into digital cameras, non-digital cameras
and a lenses/accessories/other category (and in some cases, at a more detailed
level). The picture that emerges from
this series of graphs (with data compiled according to an industry-specified
grouping of products) is that: Ø relative to the overall
market, wholesale sales of photography and related products are doing well –
consistently outperforming other consumer durables Ø not unexpectedly given world-wide
trends, the stand-out performer has been digital cameras – with sales of
non-digital cameras and the lenses/accessories/other category being flat by
comparison Ø while, as one would expect,
unit prices for mature products have been flat (presumably kept down by
competitive forces operating in the marketplace). The exception is digital
cameras, which enjoyed a period of increasing unit prices during their initial
introduction to the Australian market (also presumably coinciding with a rapid
introduction of new features). Since around the beginning of 1998, however,
unit prices have stabilised (and even trended down). Consumer Expenditure Analysis Evidence
of the changing importance of photography and related products in consumer
spending comes from household expenditure surveys run by the ABS, and the
evolving nature of the 'representative basket' of goods and services purchased
by consumers which underlies compilation of the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
Details can be found at Appendix D. International Trade Australia both exports and imports photography and related products, with the ABS compiling statistics on both a commodity and industry basis (see Section 4). Since such trade does not figure prominently in terms of Australia’s overall transactions with the rest of the world, this study has concentrated on a commodity rather than an industry view of such transactions (where items of interest are better grouped together). Not
surprisingly (since there is not a large domestic industry manufacturing
imaging products in this country), Australia imports more than it exports when
it comes to photographic and related products – see Figure 4.3 which graphs our
trade balance (exports minus imports) in respect of photographic and related
products. Figure 4.3 incorporates a
trend line which suggests that this particular trade balance is steadily
deteriorating, albeit that, from around the beginning of 2000 onwards, the
largely erratic course of (what look like largely opportunistic) exports
compared with the more predictable course of imports has meant that the trade
balance has briefly become more favourable. Industry Structure Wholesale During
1998-99 (the latest year for which statistics are available), the wholesale
trade industry generated $210.6 billion in total estimated income, of which Other wholesaling (ANZSIC 479) – which
includes Photographic equipment wholesaling – accounted for $18.7
billion (or 8.9%). Photographic
equipment wholesaling recorded estimated sales of $581 million in 1998-99,
accounting for 3.1 percent of Other wholesaling, or 0.3 percent of total
estimated wholesale sales. Section
5 contains more details of this aspect of the photography and related products
industries, including sources of income, margins, cost structures, components
of labour costs and selected performance measures for wholesaling activities. Retail During
1998-99 (the latest year for which ABS statistics are available), the retail
trade industry generated an estimated $169.3 billion in total income, of which
retail sales accounted for 86% ($146.2 billion). Accounting for an estimated $7,493.1 million (5.12%) of total
retail sales was Recreational good
retailing (ANZSIC 524) which includes Photographic equipment retailing
(ANZSIC 5244) – with estimated sales of $327.7 million in 1998-99, accounting
for 4.37 percent of Recreational good retailing, or 0.2% of estimated total
retail sales. At
the commodity item level, of a total of $146.2 billion income from retail sales
Personal and other goods (containing
Cameras and lenses and Other photographic equipment and supplies) accounted for
$31,591 million (21.6%) – with Cameras and lenses generating $412.3 million
(1.3% of Personal and other goods) and 0.28 percent of total retail sales
income while Other photographic equipment and supplies generating $215.9
million (0.68% of Personal and other goods sales and 0.15 percent of total
retail sales income). Again,
Section 5 contains more details of the retailing aspect of the photography and
related products industries. The Impact of Changing Demographics While
tourists are a significant contributor to demand, residents are the source of
most Australian demand for photographic and related products. As elsewhere during the 1990s, developments
(and convergences) in information and
communication technologies has stimulated demand for imaging products
and services. Tables
6.1 and 6.2 of Section 6 summarise Australia’s estimated resident population in
2000, along with population projections published
by the ABS which have been specially tailored to be as relevant to photography
and related products as possible. Thus,
for example, younger people (0-19 years olds) who represented an estimated 27.6
percent of the population in 2000 are projected to decline in importance over
the next fifty years relative to other age groups (working age and older
people) – projected to account for some 26.6 percent in the short term (the
years 2002-04), 25.2 percent in the medium term (2005-11), 22.4 percent over
the medium to long term (2012-2026), and falling to account for only 20.3
percent in the long term (2027-51). As
another example, working age people (arguably the most relevant group when it
comes to the items of interest to this report) are also projected to decline in
importance: initially accounting for 44 percent of the 2000 population but
declining to represent 43.6 percent in the short term, 42.8 percent over the
medium term, 40.8 percent over the medium-to-long term, and 37.4 percent in the
long term). Thus
while the sheer numbers of people in various target groups for photographic and
related products will grow over time with overall growth in the Australian
population, the composition of Australia’s population profile will increasingly
change over time. The greatest change
will be the growing importance of older people in terms of the proportion of
the population they increasingly account for.
Particularly over the long term, this will have implications in terms of
how and to whom to market the various products of the imaging industry (both
now and in the future). |