Portugal

Fujifilm discovered the value of the Portuguese market early on. Back in 1967 the Japanese company decided to introduce its products to Portugal, making the Portuguese consumers only the second in Europe after the Belgians to get acquainted with Fujifilm's photographic quality.

Fujifilm Portugal's long years of experience and market know-how have paid off. Today it has the strongest market share of all Fujifilm distributors in Europe. However, it had to start out being innovative even from the beginning to reach its present level.

When João César Machado -- after 20 years in the industry -- became the CEO of Fujifilm Portugal in 1996, he faced a serious challenge. Fujifilm's main competitor, Kodak was expanding its retail network in the country and threatening Fujifilm's position in the market. Machado decided to fight back. In only a few years, Fujifilm made strategic partnerships with different retail chains and today Fujifilm has 12,000 mini-labs in operation and a market share of around 50%. "It was a very big investment, but it was a smart move that has made us the leader in color film in Portugal," he says.
Takeru Sasaguchi, Japan's ambassador to Portugal

But Fujifilm Portugal is not only the leader in traditional photographic products; it also has a very strong position in the digital field. The company has a market share of 80 percent in digital mini-labs, as well as in medical imaging and graphic arts. In short, it is well equipped for the digital future.

"I believe graphic arts will be completely film-less in the future;" Machado predicts. "In that area and also other areas we have to change, especially when it comes to human resources. We have to seek other kinds of engineer and other kinds of sales people: we have to invest in people."

Having said that, Machado stresses that he still thinks that traditional photographic film has at least one more generation of life. "I don't think that digital cameras mean the death of photographic film, at least not for another 20 years," he qualifies. "Traditional cameras are still used in emerging markets and the use of disposable cameras is rapidly increasing. For the professional photographer, a digital camera is not yet an alternative."

Machado sees the digital user not as a threat, but as a new source for business. "Digital photography from the point of view of paper consumption has the potential to be a big user," he explains. "A digital camera user takes a lot of photos -- about 500 images a year. The big challenge for the industry is to convince him to print his images."

With this in mind, Fujifilm Portugal will facilitate the process of printing digital images. Following in the footsteps of the Swiss and French markets, it will set up digital shops with computers in Portugal that can transfer the images to different storage media, making them ready to print.

"It's very important to keep a structure here to give service to our customers. If we don't give it they will look for service elsewhere. Investments in services are the most important investments for a successful future," Machado concludes.

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