Westcoast to push into digital camera market

PCR can exclusively reveal that Westcoast has plans to launch a digital cameras division at the beginning of October.

Commercial director Andy Dow said that with so many new products in the pipeline from vendors, such as digital photo frames, cameras, camcorders and accessories, the company had seen a need to collate the brands under one dedicated division.

“We’re really in a position where we can category manage and supply a collection of brands to retail,” Dow stated. “We now have six or seven camera brands, from professional DSLRs through to consumer focused devices including frames and displays, that we can bring together to offer a strong retail category to meet the needs of a very wide range of retailers.”

Westcoast has been busy in the creation of the new division, which is due to start operations from October 1st. It will feature the separate sales teams for small and mass retailers that Westcoast customers are familiar with, as well as dedicated product support and product management around the camera section.

It is hoped that the move will enable the company to reach beyond its traditional retail base and in to the dedicated digital camera retail market. At this time the division has signed up a number of key vendors, such as Canon, Samsung, Toshiba, Kodak and General Imaging among others, with more currently in negotiation.

“I’m quite excited actually,” enthused Dow. “It’s such a growing market and such a high value market, especially for Christmas, that it seems the right way to go. Not just to offer a camera or two, but once we’re finished we’ll stock cameras that cover 60 to 70 per cent of the market, so we’ll really be able to offer the retailer what they need and become the first port of call in this sector.”