Not entirely true. If they can raise prices enough that they turn a profit on each master roll even with reduced sales volume due to those increased prices, they could keep making the film, even if some of the master roll is wasted due to age.
But it's not just about getting into the black. Every corporation wants to maximise its profits. If the return on investment on product X is less than on product Y, it can make sense to move resources from X to Y even though both X and Y are profitable.
I don't trust a thing fuji says regarding film, and I've accepted the fact that anything left in the line up can be gone tomorrow
Same here sadly, all it takes is for some other cost to impact their E6 such as something left field like having to train new staff, it could be as crazy as when the guys and gals currently running their film lines retire they kill it all off. Given that Fuji never tells us anything other than empty marketing platitudes such as "we are a film company", whilst quietly killing one product line after another its hard not to be cynical.
The yield curve does not work that way. Prices increases cut down sales volumes faster than profitability makes up the difference. This was explained to me by a friend at Ilford.
We are not even given the chance to pay a higher price for a film like Superia 200. It's just gone. Did the price rise up for the last few years, testing the market to see how high a price it would bare? No.
This is incorrect.My impression was that Fujifilm regularly increases prices of their films. Seems to be around one announcement per year.
This is incorrect.
Well, I must disagree. I googled "201X Fujifilm price increase" changing X from 2 through 7, and only for 2014 did I not find a photography site discussing a new Fujifilim price increase announcement.
Reala 100 coast $4/a roll when discontinued. Plenty of room for a price hike. Nope. Gone.
Superia 200 was just discontinued around the same price. Plenty of room to go higher. I would have paid it.
Same with Natura. An extremely important film and I have paid up to $15 a roll to third parties to get some from Japan. Fujifilm just offed it.
No only does Fujifilm refuse to raise prices in lieu of cancelling films, they wont even sell many films globally.
NPS is still available in Japan, but not elsewhere. Ridiculous. I would shoot a lot of that film, if I can get it into my camera.
There is no logic plan behind Fuji discontinued films or let some emulsions remaining in sale.Fuji over-diversified and excessively regionalised their film range before pruning it in a less than sensible manner. If they made a couple of films off the same emulsion technology generation on all formats and marketed them globally, they could shrink their range, but offer a rational choice. Remember that not that long ago there was Superia 400 (120 only), Superia xtra 400 (135 only), and NPH (135 & 120) - a confusing mess to put it mildly! Personally I'd have preferred plain Superia to have been the one that remained - always seemed nicer colourwise (and a hair sharper) than NPH. NPH was probably seen as more 'marketable' as a 'professional' brand against Portra - and that's quite apart from Fuji deciding to surrender the sheet C41 and BW markets to Kodak and Ilford etc. Not that that's a massive surprise when both offer 400 speed stocks in sheets and Fuji didn't go above 160.
As I pointed out, raising prices does not save films. An analysis need be done to see if price impacts volumes sold prior to expiry of master roll. In most cases for Fuji, who were unable to change production capacity to lower yields, it does not. Increasing prices actually slows sales faster than impacting profitability.
The calls from some people for increasing prices to save their favorite films is misguided. In this model.
Historically speaking $4/roll of film in 2015 is very very cheap. Fujifilm could have easily have increased prices and hardly put a dent in film sales. Many films at that time sold for far more than $4/roll. I think back then (going from memory here) Provia was double that price. Provia is still going strong and I hardly think that sold more than the best C41 film we've ever had back then.As I pointed out, raising prices does not save films. An analysis need be done to see if price impacts volumes sold prior to expiry of master roll. In most cases for Fuji, who were unable to change production capacity to lower yields, it does not. Increasing prices actually slows sales faster than impacting profitability.
The calls from some people for increasing prices to save their favorite films is misguided. In this model.
And to some cases in the past films with high demand were discontinued first to this issue Fuji stated : "because of low demand."
Well I personaly don't speculate Fuji managers are real drunk - the possible reason could only be : They stopped film
production from coating lines somewere
between 2008 - 2010 in total.
With bigger amounds of masterrols from storage they delivered the less demand niche market to several years.
And if one emulsion is going short they decide against a new production run.
So they descontinued film to film - and it seams to be a random choice when you
look at what film is first.
That would also explain Fujis comunication. They can't say wich film is next. It is in regard of forage volume of masterrols produced years ago.
And the dramatic following consequence of this is quite clear :
Fuji will discontinue all of the remaining films.
Films with high demand ...AT..FIRST !
Historically speaking $4/roll of film in 2015 is very very cheap. Fujifilm could have easily have increased prices and hardly put a dent in film sales. Many films at that time sold for far more than $4/roll. I think back then (going from memory here) Provia was double that price. Provia is still going strong and I hardly think that sold more than the best C41 film we've ever had back then.
Which Reala are you referencing for $4 a roll? Fuji Reala 100 was discontinued a good 7 or more years ago...not 2015. Reala 100 and Superia Reala were different films.
One thing Fuji did make clear many years ago...if a film was not profitable, it would be cut. 100 speed film are far less popular than 200 and 400. That is why Reala was cut, along with Pro 160.
Which Reala are you referencing for $4 a roll? Fuji Reala 100 was discontinued a good 7 or more years ago...not 2015. Reala 100 and Superia Reala were different films.
One thing Fuji did make clear many years ago...if a film was not profitable, it would be cut. 100 speed film are far less popular than 200 and 400. That is why Reala was cut, along with Pro 160.
If Fuji had chosen to make 2 C-41 films, 2-3 E-6 films and 1-2 BW films available globally & in all formats back about the late 2000s I suspect that they'd not find themselves dealing with the consequences now of making too many types of film in not enough formats for too many overly local markets.
This is almost certainly wrong. Probably a lot of this may have been down to projected production runs to fill anticipated demand becoming so spread out (likely 18-24 months at a minimum) that films would be fogging in storage before enough stock had sold to pay for making more. Remember that manufacturers generally have far higher standards for fog, colour etc than third party resellers of bulk rolls!
Anyway, all this has been gone into in some detail upthread. Pro160ns (for example) until recently presumably sold enough in 120/220 to make a batch at a specific interval, but not the 135 version (which is on a different base). It will have gone when a growth in that production interval combined with management's perception of the price point the market would accept. Kodak Alaris did some research a few years ago & found that their user base would rather accept some price increases in preference to product discontinuation. Their range was also much more aggressively rationalised and unified than Fuji's. If Fuji had chosen to make 2 C-41 films, 2-3 E-6 films and 1-2 BW films available globally & in all formats back about the late 2000s I suspect that they'd not find themselves dealing with the consequences now of making too many types of film in not enough formats for too many overly local markets.
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