United Imaging Group holds virtual roadshow

GaryPageau ,
United Imaging Group Co.,  Europe’s leading photo specialist buying group, held its annual roadshow Oct. 6, via YouTube.The event drew 200 dealers, and information provided by the management included purchasing, marketing, sales, and the Trends & Training division presented details on the market situation and their current projects.

To provide additional support to the members in this economically challenging year, all UIG dealers will receive a special bonus of 1.25% for the month of October on all warehouse orders that are made and delivered in October, according to UIG. This special bonus will be distributed in December.

Michael Gleich, general manager, United Imaging Group

“This year is a great challenge for our members and also for us at the headquarters and a year that is associated with many uncertainties and unpredictability,” says Michael Gleich, managing director. “In view of these difficulties, we are more than satisfied with the current business development. The merger, which took place in 2019 with the europafoto colleagues, not only had a positive effect on UIG sales but also gave the members more opportunities to successfully master the crisis months. Especially against the background of the current financial year, the merger into a group for the entire photo trade was spot on and forward-looking.

Despite COVID, sales slightly up so far due to europafoto

Despite store closings and corona-related sales losses, the cumulative total sales of the United Imaging Group GmbH & Co. KG from January to September 2020 was an increase of 5.6%. This positive sales development is due exclusively to the new europafoto members who only joined the company in July 2019 and are therefore missing from the previous year comparison. Adjusting the figures for this europafoto sales, the result for the period mentioned is a decrease of 9.6%. This means that UIG’s business development is still significantly better than the market, for which GfK reported a cumulative minus of -19.7% up to August 202, the company says. UIG noted growth in SLR cameras, mirrorless system cameras and lenses, including the exclusive Voigtländer brand, but compact cameras and mobile phones continue to decline.