November 10, 2010:Harvey Norman will launch another ‘9 cents for 9 days’ Fujifilm print promotion, starting next Monday, November 15, and finishing on Tuesday, November 23.
This follows the recent move by BigW to an ‘everyday’ print price of 10 cents, which it’s believed will be maintained at least through to Christmas. ‘Fujifilm Quality Paper’ is featured in POS for the BigW promotion far more prominently than previous cheap print promotions, creating something of a challenge for stores offering Fujifilm-branded prints at reasonable, rather than knock-down prices.
‘I am fairly cheesed off with my store branding being trashed,’ noted northern NSW, FIP photo specialist, Jean-Paul Crimson, who alerted Photo Counter to the Big W move.
The latest promotion from Harvey Norman is specifically aimed at generating pre-Christmas foot traffic, according to a Harvey Norman source, with a broad focus across the Harvey Norman digital lifestyle products range, including computers, games and consoles, rather than being concentrated on photo products alone.
There is no limit on quantity for the 9 cent prints, and the price is on offer in-store and online. The sales target across the group has been beefed up from the previous (October) promotion’s 10 million prints to 15 million in-store and one million online.
The promotion will be supported by a heavy burst of TV, radio and press advertising.
‘This is just another attempt by Harveys to steal our customer base with loss-leader style advertising and pricing,’ said Jason Robertson, Ted’s Cameras sales and marketing manager, Photofinishing.
‘They can’t be making much of a profit from the product itself. At 9 cents a print if you made 1 cent you would be doing well, I’d imagine’.
– And with a 1 cent profit per print, the entire national promotion would only deliver $160,000 from 16 million prints – not enough to cover a national advertising campaign.
Robertson said that even if paper and chemistry could be sourced at a low price, the finished product plus wages, store space, other overheads and advertising costs would put the cost price of a 4×6 print at a bare minimum of 10 cents.
Independent photo products supplier IPS has been offering a ‘fighting paper & chemistry bundle’ to assist specialist independent retailers contending with what many perceive as predatory pricing from Harveys and Big W.
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