The great debate between photographers has always been "Canon or Nikon?" and perhaps more recently, Sony. These three companies have 87% of the pro-camera market share, with Canon taking almost 50%. If you walk in to any electronics store, it is certain that the display shelves will be full of cameras from these brands. If you want to buy a Pentax or an Olympus, you'll probably have to look online.
Camera companies all use a special trick to retain their share of the market, and to prevent customers from turning to other brands. It is not in the cameras, but the lenses. All of the top three manufacturers have their own proprietary system to attach lenses to the camera body. This means that a Canon lens can only be fit to a Canon camera and so on. Lenses for professional cameras can cost thousands of dollars, and most photographers own multiple lenses. If one wanted to move to another camera system, the lenses they have already purchased would be useless, and they would have to buy a whole new set of lenses that work with the new camera. If you bought a Nikon as your first camera, you'll probably remain a Nikon customer for a very long time.
This oligopoly is not necessarily bad for consumers. Due to the nature of oligopolies, the three companies are in constant competition with each other which keeps prices fair and drives technological advancement.
https://photorumors.com/2018/08/01/2018-canon-nikon-and-sony-market-share-latest-nikkei-bcn-and-cipa-reports/
https://www.usa.canon.com/internet/portal/us/home/products/list/lenses/ef/telephoto-zoom/telephoto-zoom
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I never really thought of camera companies as their own oligopolies! This is very true, especially when it comes to the amount of control each of these firms have on the market. It's true oligopolistic behavior comes through in the lens marketplace. The same, however, could not be said of the PC market. The three most popular brands of PCs, Lenovo, Dell, and HP, all outstrip Apple. Although in our bubble here in Silicon Valley where Apple has become the standard, most of the country still relies upon Windows and their services, which only furthers the software monopoly they have.
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I hadn't realized that the camera market was an oligopoly, so I thought this article was interesting. I was wondering how much the companies are able to overcharge the consumers. It was hard to find a lot of information online, but the answers I did see estimated 25-30% which, for a $1000 camera is $250-300. I also thought it was interesting how, at the beginning, you mentioned Sony as recently becoming a competitor in the camera industry. It would be interesting to see exactly how it found its way into this oligopoly and how a newcomer would affect prices.
ReplyDeleteA fresh new perspective on oligopolies, loved the connection to the camera industry which is very integrated into the technology industry as well! When you pointed out how “you'll probably remain a Nikon customer for a very long time” it reminded me of brand loyalty that we learned in the in-class documentary “Merchants of Cool; the Persuaders; Generation Like” and how this strategy is used to establish and continue to build it. Also, the inadaptability of the components of the product at the expense of consumer convenience made me realize how profitable that Is in not only helping to maintain brand loyalty, but also dominance as an oligopoly marketing firm.
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