[RGlasel]

I don't know how Nikon account for this in their books, but there seems to be a raft of semi-obsolete D3xxx or D5xxx out there the size of the Great Barrier Reef.

I don't have to do Nikon's books to know that it is a sale once a camera or lens is shipped to someone else. Third party distributors and dealers will have some time to pay Nikon, dating terms are used as an incentive to get larger orders, but at some point in the fiscal year that the cameras are shipped, they will come due. Smaller players like Pentax and Olympus may offer guaranteed inventory turns by agreeing to accept returns of unsold product without offsetting orders of new product, but Nikon won't have any such liability. Once the dealer pays for their Nikon stock, Nikon won't accept it back. That's why dealers have cameras in stock that have celebrated birthdays.

Because dealers have much of their money tied up in aged Nikon and Canon inventory, they are much less eager to tie up money in product from other manufacturers, which means that Pentax, Olympus, etc. customers will either be buying the display model or waiting for the dealer to order more stock. If Nikon and Canon want their dealers to order new models, they need to help them sell out old inventory, which is why dealers will advertise specials on Canon and Nikon products more often, but most camera buyers are looking to replace what they already own, not get into photography for the first time, so their preference is to buy the latest models, not something out of date. The brick and mortar camera stores are in the most difficult position, they keep losing customers to online dealers while they sit on outdated inventory that gets harder and harder to sell.

It isn't the buckets of unsold Nikon products in stores that is hurting Nikon, it is the overhead from a company set up to produce X million cameras and lenses every year, when demand is only half of that. It will take some time to reduce overhead and that will take cash out of the pockets of Nikon's owners, but Nikon isn't obligated to lose money forever. The only way Nikon becomes a total loss for its owners is if Nikon gets out of the camera business altogether.

[mee]

I knew it would get a response

I spent most of last July in the West Country and Ireland. Despite almost daily servings of the stuff I failed to acquire a taste for it....

Perhaps this accounts for the accent? The pudding has permanently damaged their tongues?

[BigMackCam]

Perhaps this accounts for the accent? The pudding has permanently damaged their tongues?

<black-pudding-induced silence>...

[mee]

<black-pudding-induced silence>...

Oh.. right sorry.
















I think maple syrup helps that. ziiiing.

[mee]

Come back.. I was only kidding!

[monochrome]

"You're right, Mr. Thatcher, I did lose a million dollars last year. I expect to lose a million dollars this year. I expect to lose a million dollars next year. You know, Mr. Thatcher, at the rate of a million dollars a year, I'll have to close this place in... 60 years." - Citizen Kane

Nah. Lose a million one time.

Restructure (take your medicine).

Write down and close factories. Liquidate unsold and returned inventory (destroy some unsold inventory) - clear the channel.

Sell real estate. Sell patents. Sell minority investments in other companies. Sell everything that isn't Core Business or integral to Restructured company Business Plan. Cease redundant expenditures. Fire 10,000 1170 redundant assemblers through gentle attrition (Japanese way, unlike Ricoh in 2013)

Pay down and Renegotiate debt. Receive capital injection from Mitsubishi.

Start fresh - but Nikon is then a niche player in a bigger niche and Pentax is their competitor.

[mee]

Nah. Lose a million one time.

Restructure (take your medicine).

Write down and close factories. Liquidate unsold and returned inventory (destroy some unsold inventory) - clear the channel.

Sell real estate. Sell patents. Sell minority investments in other companies. Sell everything that isn't Core Business or integral to Restructured company Business Plan. Cease redundant expenditures. Fire 10,000 redundant assemblers

Pay down and Renegotiate debt. Receive capital injection from Mitsubishi.

Start fresh - but Nikon is then a niche player in a bigger niche and Pentax is their competitor.

I don't think you'll be getting a Christmas card from too many of those 'redundant' workers...

Which makes me wonder if Japanese companies value their employees much more than American companies do theirs? Over here we are each an expendable, tiny cog in a giant machine... easily replaceable.. even if you really aren't.

[rawr]

Restructure (take your medicine).

And/or: innovate, build new value, open up/create/exploit new markets.

Although in Nikon's case, maybe I'm too optimistic.

[Digitalis]

I think all this talk of Nikon dying is incredibly hyperbolic. Olympus has had some troubling financial issues and the are still in the market. Samsung recently had a big senior level bust over corruption - they are still standing, and will likely continue to do so.

Ricoh, buy Nikon. Imagine Nikon AF and lenses with K-mount body ergonomics and IBIS.

I'd actually prefer the combined ergonomics Minolta 7D mixed with the Pentax KP - The minolta 7D was festooned with controls in such a way you never had to dive into menus for core photographic functions* - I really like the interchangeable grip option of the KP, it is highly reminiscent of the venerable Pentax LX. I'm not so keen on the absent top mounted camera status/settings LCD.


*unless it was something obscure like colour space selection.

[rawr]

Olympus has had some troubling financial issues and the are still in the market. Samsung recently had a big senior level bust over corruption - they are still standing.

Toshiba is reportedly now on the brink too, with huge losses and corruption scandals. Yet it probably won't be disappearing anytime soon either.

[Digitalis]

Toshiba is reportedly now on the brink too, with huge losses and corruption scandals.

Wow Toshiba, really? 2017 is going to be anything but dull. I suppose this is a year where people [for various and assorted reasons] will be alternating between uncontrollable hysteria and being transfixed in horror.

[Jeff Lopez]

I been thinking about that a long time ago and I even said on another forum that the D5x line is unnecessary and overrated so Nixon should really ditch it and begin to install flip viewers to their D300x to compete against the Canon Rebels. next logical upgrade would be the D7000 series and for the price of that Ill rather just go for the pro series..

[mee]

Wow Toshiba, really? 2017 is going to be anything but dull. I suppose this is a year where people [for various and assorted reasons] will be alternating between uncontrollable hysteria and being transfixed in horror.

Some people, sure. Others either welcoming the changes or, at the least, understand they are simply along for the duration of the ride..

Wherever Nikon goes, even if it went under today, there is still a wealth of fully functioning lenses and camera bodies that should continue to function for years and years into the future.

And if things should really get grim, perhaps we can assemble many D3x00 and D5x00 bodies into a giant raft or build a bunker with them...

I wonder if the curtain mechanism could be used as a make-shift salad shooter/carrot slicer.. could come in more handy than just taking photographs.. A Pentax K7/K5/K3/K1 could be secured to the end of a stick and used as a club or a hammer if things got very dire.

[interested_observer]

Wow Toshiba, really? 2017 is going to be anything but dull. I suppose this is a year where people [for various and assorted reasons] will be alternating between uncontrollable hysteria and being transfixed in horror.

• Toshiba facing bankruptcy, total disintegration thanks to bad bets on nuclear power - ExtremeTech

Westinghouse is far from the only nuclear engineering firm that Toshiba owns, but it’s near the heart of this scandal. In 2015, Westinghouse bought an American construction company, CB&I Stone & Webster. Toshiba now says that Westinghouse overpaid for the company and that information material to the acquisition — specifically cost overruns, delays, and the impact both would have on CB&I Stone & Webster’s bottom line — were not disclosed properly or accounted for.

[mecrox]

I don't have to do Nikon's books to know that it is a sale once a camera or lens is shipped to someone else. Third party distributors and dealers will have some time to pay Nikon, dating terms are used as an incentive to get larger orders, but at some point in the fiscal year that the cameras are shipped, they will come due. Smaller players like Pentax and Olympus may offer guaranteed inventory turns by agreeing to accept returns of unsold product without offsetting orders of new product, but Nikon won't have any such liability. Once the dealer pays for their Nikon stock, Nikon won't accept it back. That's why dealers have cameras in stock that have celebrated birthdays.

Because dealers have much of their money tied up in aged Nikon and Canon inventory, they are much less eager to tie up money in product from other manufacturers, which means that Pentax, Olympus, etc. customers will either be buying the display model or waiting for the dealer to order more stock. If Nikon and Canon want their dealers to order new models, they need to help them sell out old inventory, which is why dealers will advertise specials on Canon and Nikon products more often, but most camera buyers are looking to replace what they already own, not get into photography for the first time, so their preference is to buy the latest models, not something out of date. The brick and mortar camera stores are in the most difficult position, they keep losing customers to online dealers while they sit on outdated inventory that gets harder and harder to sell.

It isn't the buckets of unsold Nikon products in stores that is hurting Nikon, it is the overhead from a company set up to produce X million cameras and lenses every year, when demand is only half of that. It will take some time to reduce overhead and that will take cash out of the pockets of Nikon's owners, but Nikon isn't obligated to lose money forever. The only way Nikon becomes a total loss for its owners is if Nikon gets out of the camera business altogether.

Thanks for taking the trouble to explain, very helpful. I suspect it still leaves Nikon in a bit of a mess. It looks as if they have been pushing stuff out into channels in various shades of grey and are now stuck with the consequences. I can't imagine there is much love for them in the retail trade either. For myself, I think that buckets of unsold products hanging around does hurt them because it damages the standing of their brand. It's harder to ask premium prices for your premium products if you are also known for knocking out el cheapo goods in vast quantities which end up in dodgy places on Ebay, etc. Longer term, I suspect that is very erosive. Many companies in other walks of life would use different brandings for these approaches.