F64 starts selling smartphones and tablets

Photo equipment retailer F64 announced that it will be introducing smartphones and tablets in its offer, on a contracting market that had shrunk by 2 percent at the end of the first half of the year, announced Marian Alecsiu, associate founder of F64, during a meeting with the press.

“We have already started discussions with operators on the market and are currently in the stage of signing contracts,” he said.

“If we look at the photo equipment market strictly from the point of view of the units, this is contracting, not like we were used to in late years. We are trying to add to our portfolio products that are related to photography because we have noticed that clients are migrating from entry-level cameras to smartphones. Smarthones are replacing compact cameras on the market,” said Alecsiu.

Last year, F64 posted a turnover of EUR 18 million and marks 12 years of presence on the Romanian market. The photo segment represented 80 percent of the sales, while the remaining 20 percent came from video sales, according to Alecsiu. The company official said the offline and online channels complete each other and bring an approximately equal share of the revenues.

“For this year, we are hoping to achieve a 10 percent growth,” said Alecsiu.

F64 planned to open working points across the country, but has not managed to do so, because it did not have the resources on a shrinking market. Brasov, Cluj, Timisoara and Iasi were high on the list of cities where the company wanted to establish points of presence.

“The mirrorless is the only sector on the photo market that is growing. It is unlikely that the mirrorless will reach the level of the DSLR earlier than 2-3 years. From the point of view of the DSLR market, this has stabilized,” said Alecsiu.