“In results we cannot complain. In this time of pandemic we have a very important diversification of products, although some divisions had significant drops, for example, photofinishing (photo printing). But there were also some opportunities to help help hospitals deal with the pandemic through the health division. Normally we have healthy inventory levels and obviously (the demand registered by the health division during the pandemic) contributed to our growth and we have been adopting new lines of business”, explains the manager.
during the pandemicthe company’s products that had the greatest boom, were the x-ray filmin addition to endoscopes, which allow blood tests to detect certain diseases. Added to this are devices to detect pneumonia.
For this year, the manager expects to close with double-digit sales, in line with last year’s results, with a view to growing at an even faster rate, after the arrival of the office printer business last April.
“We have many isolated divisions, but (the Mexican subsidiary) we have always been representative of a large market share for Fujifilm in the world and that positions us as the largest distributor and the only one in the world that distributes all its products in one place. same market,” he declares.
What happened to the cameras?
Fujifilm lived through the transition from analog to digital cameras, but never completely removed photographic paper from the market, including instant print. And with the commitment to the nostalgia market that many companies have joined, Fujifilm repositioned itself with its Instax cameras, which first hit the market in 1998.
Between 2002 and 2004, the models that followed were the Mini 30 to 50 versions that added new features to the classic Instax Mini model, such as manual and automatic exposures, and lightened the weight. The Mini 50 already weighed 320 grams. And it was in 2008 when the Mini 7s model came out, but in 2012 this line began to have a new boom with the arrival of the Mini 8, which led to a worldwide boom.
We thought that the nostalgia for the photo on paper would be temporary, but it has proven to be here to stay
With instax, the company has also had the opportunity to combine technology, by combining analog with digital, since in some cases, in addition to printing, photos can also be shared digitally. And competitors have also chosen to enter this segment, after turning to photo automation.
“What we have been seeing is that products are reviving and something we have found is that for the generations that were born with digital, photography has not lost this magical issue. So this analog photography has once again generated a passion for the traditional, for the analog. It is a market that even when it came back into fashion, we thought it was something more temporary, but it has been shown that it is back to stay,” says Giraud.