Kodak dominates, but Canon develops appeal - top camera brands at discount stores - Top Brands, Part 1: Store Manager Survey

Discount Store News, Oct 1, 1990

Kodak Dominates, But Canon Develops Appeal

Kodak, as in every year of this survey, held onto its No. 1 ranking among discount store managers, but declined slightly while every other brand on the top 10 with the exception of Polaroid improved over last year.

The most dramatic rises in DSN's 1990 Top Brands Survey in photo and camera came from Canon, which leaped from No. 3 to No. 2, and Fuji, which nearly tripled its rate of mentions over last year, while holding steady at No. 5.

Nevertheless, Kodak's lead over competing and non-competing photo brands is gigantic.

Over three-quarters of store managers named Kodak a top performing brand, compared to under one-third who cited Canon and about one-quarter who named Polaroid.

Roughly one manager in five named No. 4 Minolta, which has had major success with its Maxxum and other auto-focus cameras, and No. 5 Fuji scored about one mention in 10. Rounding out the rest of the Top 10 were Pentax, Scotch/3M, Nikon, Vivitar and Olympus, with only Vivitar and Olympus new to the chart, replacing Emerson and Duracell.

Kodak's support was strong across the board, but slightly stronger at K mart and Ames than elsewhere (nearly nine of 10 managers at those chains mentioned Kodak).

There was a clear difference between conventional and upscale discounters; conventional discount store managers mentioned Kodak in about four out of five interviews, vs. about three out of five in upscale interviews.

Canon, on the other hand, owed its success in large part to two retailers, Wal-Mart and Target. Roughly four of five Wal-Mart managers mentioned the brand, and exactly one-half of Target managers did so. Both chains feature manned, upscale photo departments, which may partly explain the brand's rising popularity with managers.

Polaroid's performance was pretty even across all classes of discounters, mentioned between 20% and 30% of the time. With the exception of fairly strong support at Target, Minolta was similarly consistent.

Fuji came back strong after a severe dropoff last year, possibly attributable to Wal-Mart dropping the brand in a "Buy American" frenzy. This year, even before reentering Wal-Mart shelves, the brand received mentions from about 3% of Wal-Mart managers, rather impressive for a brand that wasn't being sold at the time of the survey. (However, the chain had already decided to return Fuji products to its photo departments, and Wal-Mart had reportedly continued to use Fuji minilabs and supplies in some of its stores, which may in part explain the brand's showing.)

Fuji also received almost no support from Ames managers, again because the chain did not stock the brand at the time of the survey, a situation that has since reportedly changed.

That leaves two major chains, and Fuji made significant inroads at one of them, K mart, where nearly one in four managers cited the brand as a top performer. Upscale discounters as a whole (but excluding Target) also reported top performance by Fuji.

Pentax owed its success almost exclusively to K mart and Target, where roughly one in five managers cited the brand, while Scotch/3M can thank Wal-Mart managers for its ranking.

The ranking of photo brands varied considerably across the country. Kodak, for instance, was relatively more popular in the Northeast and in the West than in the South and North Central regions. Canon, on the other hand, was just the opposite, scoring better with Southern and North Central region store managers.

Fuji, as usual, had the widest variance by region. The brand was virtually nonexistant among Northeastern and Southern store managers, but roughly one in five managers in other regions cited the brand as a top performer. The company has had a history of success in the West, but its national presence among consumers seems to indicate that Wal-Mart's refusal to sell the brand over the past two or three years has hurt it in the South.

Polaroid was most popular among managers in its home Northeastern region, and dipped slightly in the West. Minolta had almost no Northeastern presence, but showed well in the other three regions, with about one in five store managers in those areas mentioning the brand.

Pentax was strong in the West, while Scotch/3M showed well in the South.

Overall, managers felt strongly that they would see sales increases in the coming year in their photo departments. However, on the whole, they forecast modest (under 10 percent) increases, not surprising for a "mature" product category.

What constitutes a top performing photo brand in the mind of a store manager? According to their responses, advertising, whether by the manufacturer or in retail circulars, was the most important factor. With the exceptions of Ames and Target, roughly four of ten managers named advertising as a key component for success.

Only one of five Ames managers named advertising, while less than one of three Target managers did the same.

Brand recognition was nearly as strong a component, the managers said. At Wal-Mart and target, though, brand recognition was the most important variable, with two-thirds of each chain's managers citing brand presence.