Canon tests its first photographic ‘experience store’ in Australia, in a bid to boost digital camera sales

BUDDING photographers will be able to pick up a camera and snap away at a world-first photographic ‘experience store’ being trialled in Melbourne.

THE WORLD’S biggest camera brand will open its first “experience store” in Australia on Friday, after Canon chose Melbourne to test the photographic hub before expanding the concept internationally.

The store, in South Melbourne, will feature “untethered, unlocked” cameras visitors can pick up and use, dedicated spaces for macro and portrait photography, printing facilities, and regular workshops.

But the Canon experience centre also arrives at a difficult time for traditional photography, as pocket-sized cameras show signs of losing the battle to smartphones, though more advanced DSLR cameras hold steady.

Canon will trial the store concept for six months to a year.

Canon Australia consumer director Jason McLean said the company created the store after “a few years” spent researching the best ways to demonstrate cameras to consumers.

Similar stores from other technology brands often appeared daunting to users who were starting out, he said, so Canon’s centre had been designed with beginners in mind, as well as experienced photographers.

“Sometimes you walk into difference experience centres and stores and you feel a little bit out of place,” he said. “Our experience centre is not set up to intimidate you. That’s where we believe it is going to be different than anything in the market.”

The store, which will be attached to Canon’s new Sun Studios complex in Melbourne, will feature cameras customers can use without being tethered to desks, two experience zones to test cameras, a cafe, and will host Canon Collective classes.

Canon’s store in Melbourne will be a world first.

Selling cameras was not the store’s main goal, Mr McLean said, but it was more about cementing the brand in Australia.

“We’re not pushing a sale, we’re pushing an experience,” he said.

Canon again claimed the top spot for sales of pocketable and DSLR cameras this year, according to Japan’s BCN, though traditional rival Nikon closed the margin in both categories.

Sales of digital cameras overall were more split, however. Basic cameras continued to lose the technology race to smartphones, falling more than 40 per cent in May this year, according to CIPA.

Inside Canon’s first 'experience store' in Melbourne.

Advanced cameras with interchangeable lenses remained stable, however, with sales down just 2.5 per cent.

Mr McLean said Canon would test the new store for up to a year before deciding whether to open more experience centres.

“It’s a concept that will hopefully spread to other countries,” he said.