[HUG ] SV: Re: Dollar fall kills Hasselblad? (and Leica?)

The point is the falling dollar.  A camera that cost ? 3,000 back in 2002 would 
cost 3,000 US$ back then.  Today ? 3,000 is more like 4,850 US$ today.  Add 
then that you have to increase the price because of fewer units sold - like the 
Leica M8, and the camera producer will have to charge more than 5,000 US$.  And 
so on...

Leica and Hasselblad have dealerships and subsidiaries with long tradition of 
this kind of sales.  In China - and Russia, they have to be allies of the mafia 
just to get money for their stuff.  Marketing in these virgin markets is not 
easy for small operators.  That Leica can offset their traditionally excellent 
US sales with China is a pipedream.  I think.

The top 50 US hedge fund managers harvested a personal income of totally 29 
billion US$ in 2007 so there are a few americans who still can pay.  That's 
true.

Tom of Oslo

> From: A. Lal [alal@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
> Sent: 2008-04-28 13:10:21 CEST
> To: hasselblad@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [HUG ] Re: Dollar fall kills Hasselblad?  (and Leica?)
> 
> 
> Yes, agree fully. It will be a generation or two before the US is equaled in 
> economic power, but that was not the point.  IMO, the North American and 
> Western European markets are close to being saturated, while the so called 
> emerging economies, though smaller, are not.  It would be easier for Leica 
> to sell an M8 and Noctilux to a new millionaire in Shanghai or Bangalore or 
> Moscow than to a middle class wage earner in NA or Europe. The high end is 
> the market that companies like Rolex and MontBlanc, to name two very 
> successful luxury goods makers, have targeted.
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Mark Rabiner" <mark@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <hasselblad@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Monday, 28 April, 2008 1:11 AM
> Subject: [HUG ] Re: Dollar fall kills Hasselblad? (and Leica?)
> 
> 
> >> It's no use blaming  Leica or Hasselblads poor performance on the decline
> >> in the US dollar. European companies have only themselves to blame for
> >> declining sales. Leica, Hasselblad,CZ should have switched their sales
> >> emphasis from the US and Western Europe to Asia and Russia where the 
> >> growth
> >> is.
> >>
> >> I am not sure if the list members are aware of the enormous economic 
> >> change
> >> that is now occurring. For just one example see:
> >>
> >> http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB118677584137994489.html
> >>
> >> China,  Russia, Brazil, India are areas where luxury goods makers need to
> >> focus their efforts if they are to do well.
> >>
> >
> >
> > I think the USA might have one or two last gasps left.
> > After a lull of a  year or so this is just a downturn.
> > Can't be up up up all the time.
> > I predict the US market will have some importance in the years to come.
> > There's one or two people who want to buy one last camera before they 
> > croak.
> > After they've bought their loaf of bread for $20,000.
> > Which they got there in a wheelbarrow.
> >
> > Mark William Rabiner
> > markrabiner.com
> >
> >
> >
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> 
> 
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