BCN reports retail sales of most consumer items in Japan based upon a large (but not complete) percentage of the retail establishments there. The final mirrorless camera results and Gold Awards for 2011 are now available:
- Olympus 38.6% (2011), 29.1% (2010)
- Panasonic 29.3% (2011), 38.7% (2010)
- Sony 27.3% (2011), 32.5% (2010)
Panasonic and Olympus swapped places, primarily because of Olympus' continued promotions of older cameras at highly reduced prices, while latecomer Nikon nibbled away a bit of Sony's share starting in November.
Expect things to change in 2012. The currently weekly rankings of mirrorless sales in Japan show the following cameras as top mirrorless sellers:
- Panasonic GF3 (double lens kit)
- Nikon J1 (double lens kit)
- Panasonic GF2 (double lens kit)
- Panasonic GX1 kit
- Nikon J1 kit
Given all the new cameras coming as well as the way that discounting strongly influences the Japanese retail camera scene right now, I expect 2012 to be a topsy-turvy year at retail in Japan for mirrorless cameras.
