Ricoh (Pentax) will stop mass production to focus on retail sales


In a statement published on the company’s Japanese website, Ricoh CEO Noboru Akahane announced that from April 1, 2022 the firm will restructure the digital camera sector and cease mass production.

On January 20, 2022, Noboru Akahane, Ricoh’s CEO, via a press release on the company’s official website (in Japanese), revealed that a restructuring of the image division would take place from April 1, 2022. The firm, which therefore markets Pentax boxes, explains that it should interrupt mass production and, in addition, would stop going through distributors to sell directly to consumers.

The end of mass production

The production of Pentax SLRs and Ricoh compacts will therefore be much less important than at present and the sale will be almost retail, without relays and using Ricoh’s digital platforms directly. Mr. Akahane also specifies that the company will be able to create its own physical points of sale to manage relations with its customers.

This surprising change in strategy leaves one perplexed as to the state of health of Ricoh’s photo branch. While reflexes and compacts are gradually being abandoned, there is little doubt that sales of Pentax or Ricoh GR compacts are far from exceptional. Abandoning mass production would therefore be very economically relevant to preserve the photo industry as much as possible.

This would approach, to a certain extent, what brands like Leica or Hasselblad do: target a niche market, with limited copies that are sure to sell. This solution will perhaps prevent a sale of the photo branch, like what happened to Olympus-OM System.



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