Camera sales in Norway continue to decline

Camera sales in Norway continue to decline

According to the latest statistics released by the Norwegian Consumer Electronics Trade Foundation, sales of photo-and video cameras in the Nordic country dropped 15,5 percent from 97,000 units in 2018 to 82,000 units in 2019, reports Tor Weatherstone. In the same year, sales of lenses dropped from 20,000 units to 17,000 units. In terms of value, the photo hardware market in Norway, comprising still cameras, video/action cameras and lenses, amounted to NOK 539 million (Euro 48.5 million) in 2019, a drop of 11.8 percent from NOK 611.3 million (Euro 55 million) in 2018. Though Norwegian consumers have invested in cameras with higher value over the last two years this does not make up for the decline in volume.

Sales of compact cameras fell 25 percent to 15,000 units in 2019,while sales of SLR dropped 37.5 percent to 10,000 units. Sales of action cams declined 4.5 percent to 43,000 units in 2019, while video cameras shrank 66 percent to just 1,000 units in 2019. The only bright spot in the Norwegian camera market in 2019 were sales of mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras which amounted to 14,000 units, a plus of 7.7 percent.

Despite the drop in camera sales , taking pictures was as popular as never before in Norway, commented Jan Rosholm, CEO of The Norwegian Consumer Electronics Trade Foundation. As a result, consumer spending for physial pictures increased significantly. In 2019, sales of photo books showed an increase of nearly 10 percent to 267,000 units in 2019, post cards grew slightly from 4,267,306 items in 2018 to 4.3 million in 2019, photo calendars rose 7.7 percent to 312,000 items and sales of prints increased approximately one percent to 43.3 million. Including enlargements, wall decoration and photo gifts, the value of the 2019 photofinishing market in Norway is estimated at NOK 376 million (Euro 33.84 million), a growth of 4 percent compared with 2018.