• 
• 

General manager Thanasit Thienkanjanawong yesterday  said the trend of digital cameras in Thailand nowadays had followed Japan, which is now switching to SLR cameras rather than the compact variety. In Japan,

60 per cent of the camera

market is the SLR segment, while it forms only 20 per cent of the Thai market. Thanasit therefore believes the local SLR segment has room for growthe.

He forecast that the professional-camera segment this year would increase by 20 per cent, while compact digital cameras will grow by only 5-10 per cent.

"Last year, sales revenue contributed by SLR cameras was double the year before, because consumers have more purchasing power to buy high-end products. So I believe that the growth will continue this year," he said.

With the sharp growth of the SLR segment, Thanasit said the company had decided to renovate some Big Camera shops to operate under a new name "Big Pro Camera" in order to promote themselves as professional-camera specialists.

Four Big Pro Cameras started last year and the company will invest Bt70 million this year to expand to 35-40 shops, 10 of which will

be Big Pro Camera.

He said Big Camera targeted Bt1.2 billion in revenue this year, an increase of 10 per cent from last year.

"We don't want to set a high goal because the company missed its target last year due to the economic slowdown," Thanasit said. "In 2007, we expected our sales revenue to reach Bt1.3 billion, or 30-per-cent growth. However, the best we could do was Bt1.1 billion or a 10-per-cent increase."

Big Camera has a share of 15-20 per cent of the overall camera market. The company is the distributor for Canon and Sony, the latter having appointed the local firm at the end of last year.

Nalin Viboonchart

The Nation