| CATEGORY: NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS SECTOR: GENERAL RETAILERS |
Dixons to end 35mm camera sales |
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Mon 08 Aug 2005
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LONDON (SHARECAST) - Dixons, one of the high street’s largest electrical retailers, is to stop selling 35mm cameras as consumers snub traditional photography in favour of new digital technology.
The multi billion pound company will not buy in any new stock once the latest batch runs out, it said, while film sales will gradually be phased out.
The move comes after the group snubbed video recorders last year as DVD sales soared, but this latest move is all the more poignant as 35mm cameras were the first products to be sold by Dixons.
At their peak in 1989, almost 3m 35mm cameras were sold in the UK, but as digital print quality improves, more and more punters are moving away from old-fashioned methods.
Fifteen times more digital cameras have been sold this year than the 35mm versions.
A recent test showed 93% of 100 customers could not tell the difference between 35mm prints and those from a digital camera.
Kodak has also decided to move with the times, announcing last month that it will stop making professional black-and-white photo paper as demand drops by an average 25% a year.
It is not over completely though, as Dixons said it will still sell a small range of 35mm cameras at its airport branches to cater for the professional photographer.
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