Nikon Australia

[Glen]

With all the talk on DPReview about a new Nikon Australia seperate from Maxwells, I thought I would check while at ASIC this morning. Registered 15/9/2006 details here

[Laurie]

good? bad? or ugly?

does this help us nikoners or not?

[MHD]

My first thought is YES!

If it is a true subsiduary of Nikon international they MAY honor the international service warranty AND provide extra competition in what is a monopolised market...

[Yi-P]

Very interesting, would like to know if they operate as a separate body from Nikon Japan HQ or is an actual branch from the HQ.

Lets hope that Australian Nikon stocks will drop in price from this.

[ABG]

Interesting Glen. You don't miss a trick.

[Glen]

Interesting Glen. You don't miss a trick.

There has been a lot of talk about this for some time Andrew, but a company confirms it Only registered last Friday.

[sky]

Was just on the phone with Photographic Wholesalers in Adelaide enquiring about d80, and the helpful sales guy mentioned that Nikon was a bit hectic at the moment because of the changeover.
I said, 'yeah, I've heard about that' and he was quite surprised and asked where I'd heard about it. Told him I had my finger on the pulse with the d70 users website, and he said it had been pretty hush hush about the news, and even they had been finiding it hard to get info about the changes! Nice work d70 'snouts'!!

[Onyx]

Hmmm... nice bit of digging up, Glen.

So, who else is gunna buy shares in Nikon Aust when its listed?

[ATJ]

Is it really separate from Maxwell?

I know for some time when you go to the Maxwell site and click on Nikon it takes you to a Nikon Australia page.

Anyone want to pay to find out who the directors are?

[Glen]

This is a copy of a general media release from Maxwells from this week: There are no restrictions on its reproduction.



Media Release - Sydney – September 18th, 2006:



Maxwell Optical Industries and DayMen Photo Marketing LP have announced the formation of a new Australian imaging distribution company, to start operations in October this year, to be called Maxwell International Australia Pty Limited.

Maxwell International Australia will be headquartered from the existing Lidcombe office occupied by Maxwell Optical Industries, in western Sydney. The team will be headed by Maxwell Optical Industries co-founder, John Swainston, most recently deputy chairman and director of business development for the company. The new company will be the exclusive Australian distributor for Cokin filters, Lowepro photo, video and computer bags, Tamron digital and photo lenses and Velbon tripods. The company is also photo channel distributor for Pelican hard cases.

“Maxwell’s sole focus going forward will be the important photo-imaging accessory brands that Maxwell has built over the past twenty years, each of which is No.1 or No.2 in its respective market,” said John Swainston.

“It’s been very encouraging to receive the support from our partner suppliers in this new business. The Maxwell team looks forward to helping its hundreds of clients further develop the profitable accessory business in coming months with these leading branded lines.”

Gil Roberts, CEO of DayMen Photo Marketing LP, based in Sebastopol, California stated, “We see this new opportunity to work with Maxwell as a wonderful chance to enhance the category management options for our retail customers and grow accessory attachment with complete focus. “The new structure of Maxwell as a specialist supplier of branded attachment accessories is a major plus for all the brands joining with us in this exciting new venture.”

DayMen’s Chairman Uwe Mummenhoff, a frequent attendee at Photo & Imaging / PMA shows in Australia over the past fifteen years, said from Toronto, “We’ve worked with John Swainston and his team for nearly 20 years. We are very confident that our many customers in Australia in Photo, CE, Department Store, Electrical and Duty Free channels, will benefit from the capabilities of the Maxwell team, and we hope to welcome many of you to DayMen’s Lowepro booth at Photokina in Germany at the end of September.”

Maxwell International Australia Pty Limited will commence operations from Tuesday October 3rd, immediately following Photokina. The company will be launching new products from each of its five suppliers with immediate availability from that date. Stock will continue to be available from Maxwell Optical Industries at the usual contact numbers until Wednesday September 27th, at which point the company will close off shipments and establish new computer, warehousing and accounting systems, ready to start business the following week.

Maxwell will be publishing new contact phone numbers and trading arrangements to take effect from October, in the next two weeks, as well as detailing the names of all sales personnel. The sales and marketing team will be led by Paul Gibbs, who was most recently senior product marketing manager, accessory brands, at Maxwell Optical Industries. Paul Gibbs was with a major Sydney specialist photo retailer prior to joining Maxwell in 1989. Maxwell has also confirmed that significant volumes of each of the ongoing product groups are either just now arriving or in transit to support the more than 20% growth these lines have experienced in the past twelve months, growth which is expected to continue or accelerate in the coming year.

A separate announcement about brands with which Maxwell will not be continuing, will be made shortly, following discussions with the principals of those companies.

Maxwell Optical Industries was founded in 1983 and has been a leading supplier to the Australian imaging market, until now including Nikon Imaging and Sports Optics. The new company will operate as a subsidiary of DayMen Photo Marketing LP, the owner of the Lowepro brand. DayMen has offices in Canada, China, Hong Kong, the UK, Germany and the USA. Cokin, Lowepro, Tamron, Pelican, and Velbon are all leading international photo-imaging brands respectively of filters for cameras and video, camera, video and computer bags, lenses for film and digital SLR’s, hard cases, and tripods for still and video cameras.


DayMen, Maxwell, Lowepro, Tamron, Velbon, Pelican and Cokin are either Trade Marks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

[Glen]

Another release from the same day:



Media Release - Sydney – September 18th 2006




Maxwell Optical Industries Pty Ltd has announced that, with effect from 30th September 2006, it is making arrangements to transfer its imaging distribution business, with the full support of its suppliers, to two new companies being formed for the purpose. A separate announcement details these arrangements.


Maxwell Optical Industries CEO, David Patch also announced that new arrangements for the company’s distribution of Nikon Imaging and Sports Optics products are currently under discussion with Nikon Corporation and are expected to result in the formation of a direct Nikon subsidiary to be established in Sydney, shortly.
Maxwell Optical Industries stated that they expected Nikon Corporation to make a formal announcement about their arrangements in Australia once preparations are completed. Exciting plans for the launch of recently announced new Nikon digital compact ranges and D80 SLR cameras were continuing to be developed ahead of October release.

Mr Patch added that supplies of all brands distributed by Maxwell Optical Industries would continue to be available in the forthcoming weeks, largely fulfilling most current backorders. Service arrangements at Maxwell’s Sydney service office, as well as its appointed service centres in other parts of Australia, will continue to operate normally.

[gstark]

That sounds prety official to me.

Thank you Glen for all of this.

[big pix]

....... same old management, the only change is the name on the door.........

[Glen]

Bernie, at Maxwells, I don't think that is the case at Nikon Aus though, the article is sketchy about that as I don't think that Nikon is theirs.

[big pix]

Bernie, at Maxwells, I don't think that is the case at Nikon Aus though, the article is sketchy about that as I don't think that Nikon is theirs.

....... only time will tell.......

[the foto fanatic]

The way I read those announcements is that Maxwells is losing Nikon, which will from now on be distributed by Nikon Australia.

a direct Nikon subsidiary

Let's hope there are price, service and warranty advantages.

[anubis]

Interesting.... spoke to a Store owner who said there expecting supply to improve.

Nikon take over October 1 2006.

[Blackspear]

I spoke to a store manager of Ted's that I know, and he confirmed that Nikon were sending down someone from Japan to run Nikon Australia, and he was also expecting NA to hold better stocks and he thought that they would probably look after international warranties.

Cheers

[brembo]

Hopefully it'll mark an improvement in the supply lines into Australia. Having a direct subsidiary rather than a 3rd party customer importing products into Australia.

[hangdog]

Is anyone else having trouble with figuring out the point and meaning of that press release? I mean, if they wanted to obfuscate and evade, could they possibly have tried any harder? Or maybe it's just me and my lousy comprehension skills.

[gstark]

It's actually very simple to understand.

No more Nikon.

[padey]

The way I read those announcements is that Maxwells is losing Nikon, which will from now on be distributed by Nikon Australia.

a direct Nikon subsidiary

Whether they lost or gave up Nikon is neither here or there. The fact is Nikon is coming to Australia.

Maxwell also dropped Mamiya. ATM there is no official Mamiya importer. Anyone want to pick it up?

[obzelite]

<snip> to hold better stocks and he thought that they would probably look after international warranties.

Cheers

heres hoping, still having an annoying problem with my d200 and the flash needing to be pushed and down a few times before the camera registers thats its up and ready for use.
its only a small thing and at the moment not really worth sending back to hk, but if NA starts taking care of international warranties i'm going to be happy.

only problem is will it spell the end of the bargains if prices here take a dive.

[brembo]

Any news on what's going on with this? I haven't read/heard much about it in a while.

[Onyx]

From what I could gather, Maxwell is still a service and repair supply chain partner for newly created entity Nikon Australia. However, there's now disclosure of the other Nikon authorised serivce centres throughout the country - eg. Andersons for QLD, Camera Clinic for VIC, etc. which I believe those in the know already knew previously, but that Maxwell hid from the general public as/when they sub-contracted out their work to these agents in the past (everybody only ever dealt with Maxwell for all official Nikon warranty work).

Maxwell now no longer hold the title of distributor for Nikon in Aust, but they still pretty much do what they did before. So IMHO it's just renaming/rebranding exercise to create a new business entity/name, take away Maxwell's role as middleman in the sales chain, but they still remain in the aftermarket tech support, repairs and warranty services for Nikon.

[DaveB]

One thing it supposedly has done is establish Nikon Australia as a fully-fledged part of the Nikon family, answering to Nikon Japan.
Maxwell was stuck in that they were only allowed to get stock through Nikon Singapore, and we all saw the supply-chain problems that resulted. Hopefully now Australia will receive new models at the same time as the rest of the world.

What it means for warranty issues remains to be seen.

I believe Maxwell continues as importer/distributor for all/most of the Nikon gear they had before, but they're no longer in the Nikon game.

[sky]

Seems the change hasn't helped local supply much. I'm still waiting on the d80 from Diamonds after paying a deposit a month ago and being told I'm around 20th place in the queue.
They got a small shipment in a fortnight ago, but have no idea when the next lot will arrive. They are hoping it will be in at the end of Oct, maybe early Nov..... hopefully they arrive before I leave to go to NZ on Nov 2...
I'm crossing my fingers and my toes!

[sirhc55]

Reminds me of my MacBook purchase. Paid nearly $2,000 and expected delivery within 4 days. Five days later I contacted the store only to be told that there were 859 on backorder and no idea on expected delivery but to expect around 4 weeks. Two weeks into the ordeal I sent an email saying that having my money in their account was not on as there was no product. Five minutes after sending the email the doorbell rang and there was my MacBook!!!!

You just never know

[sky]

I know Chris, they're happy to take the money even if they don't have anything on hand to offer you!
Have spoken with a few different sales people at their Adelaide store, gave my deposit to one, made enquiries with another and did initial discussions with another. Have now learn the golden rule - deal with one person and one person only! Spoke with the saleswoman who made the official order last month, then called her again today to enquire about progress and she said 'perhaps you should make a deposit to secure your camera when the next shipment comes in.'
Politely told her that I paid deposit, and it actually came out've my bank acc a month ago...
She was a bit sheepish!

[joolz]

Not sure if anyone has mentioned this, but apparently Nikon Australia will be fully online as of 1st November according to the press release on their website.
I must admit, it's been a while since I looked at Maxwell's Nikon page, but it certainly never looked as professional as http://www.nikon.com.au does at the moment.

Here is a copy of their press release:

NIKON AUSTRALIA PTY LTD Established in Australia (17-10-2006)
Nikon Corporation (Michio Kariya, President) is pleased to announce the establishment of NIKON AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, a wholly owned sales and service subsidiary, in Sydney, Australia. This new company has been launched to fortify sales of imaging products, beginning with digital cameras, and to enhance after-sales service in Australia. Operations will commence on November 1, 2006.
Sales of Nikon imaging products began in Australia in 1959 with distribution through Maxwell Photo Optics. Maxwell Optical Industries Pty. Ltd., has continued with sales and service of our products up to the present. In response to the continued digitization of imaging products, we have established this wholly owned sales subsidiary based on our determination that a stronger marketing, sales, and service presence is required to further expand our business in Australia.
Our primary goals in establishing this subsidiary are to strengthen and expand our presence in the Australian market and to improve customer service with a system integrating all aspects of our business in Australia, from marketing to sales, customer support, and after-sales service. In addition, we believe that strategic marketing and effective advertising will lead to increased sales and greater permeation of the Nikon brand, further increasing Nikon’s presence in Australia.

Corporate Profile
Name
NIKON AUSTRALIA PTY LTD
Address
Headquarters in Sydney suburb
Unit F1, Lidcombe Business Park
3-29 Birnie Avenue,
Lidcombe NSW 2141 Australia
Capital
AUD $4 million (approx. ¥350 million; 100% from Nikon Corporation)
Representative Director
Kyoichi Hagimori, Managing Director
No. of employees
Approximately 40
Primary activities
Purchase, import, wholesale distribution, and after-sales service of imaging products in Australia
Start of operations
November 1, 2006

Sounds exciting. I for one am looking forward to a change (hopefully positive).
It seems that Nikon are making a more concerted push into the Australian market.

[Critter]

Camera House at Indooroopilly have been told by Nikon Australia that they wont be getting any new stock in until December at the earliest...

[Critter]

Camera House at Indooroopilly have been told by Nikon Australia that they wont be getting any new stock in until December at the earliest... Lucky they were willing to give me my deposit back so now I can order something from here!!!