Comment: Jessops' failure reflects declining market

The failure of Jessops would represent the latest in a long line of casualties within the UK electricals market.

The withdrawal of Best Buy, the failure of Comet and the news that Play.com is now pulling out of direct consumer business, means that over the past couple of years players representing 10% of the total electricals market have made an exit. The low margin nature of electricals coupled with the strong penetration of online shopping and the ease with which prices of branded goods can be compared has put the sector under intense pressure.

Jessops has had to contend with all of those dynamics while at the same time grappling with the fact that the market for cameras has been in terminal decline. Over the past few years the market for amateur cameras has shrunk as consumers have switched to using their smartphones for photographic needs. Meanwhile, while the professional market has remained fairly solid many photographers have been content to buy from niche online specialists where prices are cheaper and ranges are more extensive. This has left Jessops serving a dwindling number of consumers.

To the chain’s credit, there have been attempts to diversity into areas such as digital photo printing and photo album creation. While worthy, such initiatives were never going to remedy the decline in core camera trade. Moreover, they were often off-putting for the professional photographer.

Ultimately, the potential failure of Jessops is another example of a retailer falling victim to a decline in demand for its core product and a sharp shift in the way such product is distributed. When faced with such a situation, a specialist single-product retailer like Jessops often has very little room for manoeuvre and reinvention.

Neil Saunders is managing director of Conlumino