Sony Revises Downward Sales Numbers, Lower Camcorder Sales Partially to Blameby News EditorPublished on Jan 20, 2005 9:15 PM 
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Sony Corporation on Thursday warned that their operating profit and sales numbers would likely fall short of expectations due to lower sales of many products, specifically including camcorders. Other product categories mentioned by Sony include DVD recorders, portable audio players, and televisions. Sony stated that it expected operating profit to come in at 110 billion yen, about 31% lower than they had expected.
According to data from Intellect, a market share analysis firm, Sony's market share in the camcorder DV industry went from 31.29% in 2003 to 31.79% from 2003 to 2004, a growth of only half a percentage. While Sony continued to be the market leader, Panasonic made a huge market share gain from 11.03% to 18.25% and Samsung grew from 8.46% to 9.92%. While Panasonic's gains were mostly at the expense of JVC, Sony failed to make any major market share increases.
Many have attributed Panasonic's large market gains to an aggressive strategy with retailers combined with an emphasis on large optical zooms, a feature that appeals greatly to budget consumers, where the bulk of camcorder sales are. In 2004, Sony's camcorders all lagged behind those of JVC, Panasonic, and Canon in the size of their optical zooms. While Sony has increased their optical zooms in their 2005 line ups, they have failed to keep up with the competition, according to this chart, first released on CamcorderInfo.com during the Consumer Electronics Show:
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Battle of the Budget Big Zooms |
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| Sony DCR-TRV280 (Review, Specs, $219.95) | 20 X |
$300.00 |
| JVC GR-D250 (Review, Specs, ) (Review, Specs, $299) | 25 X |
$429.95 |
| Canon ZR100 (Review, Specs, $219.95) | 20 X |
$349.00 |
| Sony DCR-TRV480 (Review, Specs, $279.99) | 20 X |
$350.00 |
| Panasonic PV-GS19 (Review, Specs, $244.74) | 24 X |
$349.00 |
| JVC GR-D270 (Review, Specs, $379.99) | 25 X |
$449.95 |
| Canon ZR200 (Review, Specs, $120.99) | 20 X |
$399.00 |
| Sony DCR-HC21 (Review, Specs, $329) | 20 X |
$400.00 |
| Panasonic PV-GS31 (Specs, $299) | 26 X |
$399.00 |
| JVC GR-D295 (Specs, ) | 25 X |
$499.95 |
| Canon ZR300 (Review, Specs, $449) | 22 X |
$499.00 |
| Sony DCR-HC32 (Review, Specs, $490.7) (Review, Specs, $490.7) | 20 X |
$500.00 |
| Panasonic PV-GS35 (Review, Specs, $359.95) (Review, Specs, $283.25) | 30 X |
$499.00 |
The Intellect data shows that total camcorders sold in the United States dropped from about 5.62 million in 2003 to 5.57 million in 2004. While DV camcorder sales increased by about .3 million, Digital8 camcorder sales dropped significantly from 741,000 to 526,000 units. The drop in Digital8 camcorder sales only impacts Sony because it is the only current manufacturer of Digital8 camcorders. All these combine with earlier reports suggesting that DVD camcorders sales grew much less than Sony expected to make a rough year for Sony camcorders.
"We can say that profit margins are down in the categories like video cameras, and the video cameras continue to be highly profitable," stated Atsuo Omagari Sony US spokesman for corporate issues.
Omagari stated that Sony will continue to be "highly profitable" in camcorders because they manufacture key components like the CCD, which allows the institution to have larger profit margins than the competition. He continued saying that despite the downward revision, Sony has no plans to change their 2005 camcorder strategy. Omagari expressed confidence in Sony's ability to maintain their market share.