Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/08/03

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Subject: Re: SHOW ME THE MONEY! aka $3,340
From: Gerard Captijn <captyng@vtx.ch>
Date: Sun, 03 Aug 1997 09:33:40 +0200

>It's in very high overhead and high optical standards
>which is compounded with dangerously low sales volume.

Especially in the US.  Here are the M sales for the last 3 years (amounts
in KDM):

Year                1993/94   1994/95  1995/96
- ---------------------------------------------
US sales:             9,061       6,835       6,720
Total sales:        57,214     70,829     70,006
- ---------------------------------------------
% US sales:          15,8           9,7           9,6
Total units sold:   9,322     11,208     10,171
- --------------------------------------------

Above numbers reflect rising prices. In terms of units sold, the situation
is even more dramatic. The problem comes back to us photographers in the
form of worsening service performance, smaller stocks, longer waiting
periods, etc. Leica does the maximum they can but the volume simply does
not support  much overhead anymore. Strong Asia Pacific sales keeps the
M-system product line on the shelves.

Any marketing guru's in the room who can explain how to increase M-system
sales in the US to, say, US$ 25 mio per year without masssive investment?

Gerard Captijn.