Canon Australia to close its e-commerce site at the end of the month

Heather McIlvaine

3rd Sep 2020

Bucking the growing direct-to-consumer trend in retail, Canon Australia has announced it will close its online store and shift its focus back to selling through retail partners.

In an announcement posted on its website earlier this week, the company said the online store closure would help streamline its efforts to support local retailers that have been hit hard by the drop in spending due to Covid-19.

“The state of the global and local economy is in decline due to limited economic activity caused by the Covid-19 global pandemic,” Canon Australia told Inside Retail in an email. “The impact has seen the contraction of the local camera market accelerate.”

According to the camera giant, its new, narrower focus on retailers will also help consumers “unlock value” in the busy Q2 shopping period, thanks to the robust promotions it plans to roll out between now and the end of the year.

“Canon Australia is committed to delivering the best imaging products and services to Australians, and our new line-up of full-frame mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras has already made inroads to lessening the broader effects of the economy in the category,” the company said.

Canon Australia launched its online store, called Canon Store, in 2011. It’s unclear what portion of the business came from D2C online sales.

In 2018, the company opened the Canon Experience Centre in Melbourne, a retail store-cum-community hub, where customers can test, try and buy products and meet up for photography classes and events.

The company will continue to sell products directly to customers at the Canon Experience Centre and at Sunstudios locations in Sydney and Melbourne.

The online store will officially close on September 30. Promotional codes and discount offers and gifts cards and vouchers will be valid until that date, and purchases made on the Canon Store prior to September 30 will still receive free shipping and qualify for the brand’s 14-day return policy.

However, Canon Store will no longer accept payment for products on backorder or add customers to wait lists for out-of-stock-products.

Canon products are sold in major electronics and appliances chains, including JB Hi-Fi, The Good Guys, Harvey Norman and Officeworks, as well as specialty retailers, such as Michaels and Ted’s Cameras.

This story first appeared on our sister site Inside Retail Australia.