Dealers: 'Absolute Home Run'
By Greg Scoblete -- TWICE, 7/22/2002
New York — Nikon dealers have rarely had to ask themselves, what's in a name? When the company brought to market its first "true mass market" product, the 2-megapixel Coolpix 775, the Nikon name at a $399 price point made all the difference, say retailers.
"That brand has a high rate of satisfaction and recognition among customers," said Aaron Schachter, VP of Datavision, a New York area retailer.
Kristin Elder, senior buyer, Good Guys, concurred. "The brand carried the model and it was at a breakthrough price for them," Elder said.
The advertising muscle that Nikon threw behind the 775 was also instrumental in its success. "Nikon was very aggressive advertising the camera," Schachter noted.
Style was also a big driver among consumers, Elder said. "It didn't intimidate users with lots of complicated features, but it didn't look too much like a film camera to turn off technology buffs."
Indeed, the camera's design was "an absolute home run," Elder said.
Top 10 Digital Cameras 2.0-2.9 Megapixel, May 2001-April 2002| Rank By Unit Sales | Brand/Model | Rank By $Sales |
| 1 | HP C315 Photosmart | 3 |
| 2 | Olympus Camedia D510 | 6 |
| 3 | Olympus D490 | 2 |
| 4 | HP C318 Photosmart | 21 |
| 5 | Nikon Coolpix 775 | 9 |
| 6 | Sony DSC-P50 | 10 |
| 7 | Canon PowerShot S100 | 5 |
| 8 | Fuji FinePix 2600 | 14 |
| 9 | Sony DSC-S50 | 4 |
| 10 | Kodak DX 3500 | 22 |
| Source: NPDTechworld©TWICE 2002 | ||
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