Nikon says it will ‘reconsider’ its Nikon 1 product planning strategy

In business results announced today, Nikon revised downwards by 550,000 the number of interchangeable-lens cameras it expects to sell in the year to 31 March 2014.

The firms says the Nikon 1 ‘represents the majority of [estimated] sales volume reduction’.

It adds: ‘[The] non-reflex camera market growth shows deceleration.’

Outlining its future strategy, Nikon says it wants to ‘accelerate shifting newer products in the entry class of DSLR’.

Separately, Nikon Imaging Company president Yasuyuki Okamoto is reported to have told news agency Reuters: ‘In Europe and the US the ratio of mirrorless to SLRs hasn’t grown at all, unlike in Asia, where it’s quite popular with women because it’s light. We had higher expectations for other regions.

‘But people who like cameras tend to just go for SLRs, even though they’re very heavy.’

The news comes as Nikon says it sold 80,000 fewer interchangeable-lens cameras and 60,000 fewer lenses in the three months to 30 June than in the same quarter the previous year.

Meanwhile, sales of compact cameras, in volume terms, fell 30%.

Nikon Imaging Company sales fell by 2.6 billion yen (around £17.4 million).