Fuji: Using Knowledge Of Consumers To Snap Up Sales With New Photographic Equipment
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Fuji Photo's development of the Advanced Photo System (APS) is a classic example of how a company makes use of the way their customers behave. As part of the APS Fuji target the advanced amateur when it introduced SmartFilm™. SmartFilm™ is housed in the unique APS cartridge. The APS is designed to make photography easier, more enjoyable and more exciting by allowing the photographer to switch in mid-roll from slide to print film. The SmartFilm™ comes in ISO 100, 200 and 400 speeds.

The APS also allows the photographer to select between three different picture formats at any time; C (Classic with the same proportions as normal 35mm prints; H (HDTV with a wider view); and P (Panorama for extra wide landscapes). The latest extension of SmartFilm™ is Fujichrome 100ix Slide Film. The film produces slides imprinted with data and shooting information, such as frame title, shoot data (aperture and shutter speed), shoot date and time, film ID number, frame number and photofinisher's ID number.

As an extension of its APS, the company introduced to the mass market in late 1996 a digital camera, the DS-7. The DS-7 has a built-in LCD screen and a 2 megabite solid-state floppy disk card. It allows the photographer to store between 30 to 60 images and play them back on the camera's LCD monitor, a TV, or download the images to a PC. The disk card may be erased and reused.

Fuji's Web site (http://www.fujifilm.com), provides information about Fujicolor Smart Film, Smart Cameras, Fujicolor Smart QuickSnaps, Smart Minilabs and Smart Imaging Devices. Also included on the site is a list of answers to the most frequently asked questions. Browsers may link to another page by clicking on a titled building or the Fujifilm blimp.

Questions:
1. Is the purchase of Fuji's Advanced Photo System a high involvement or low involvement decision?
2. What elements of the social environment might influence the purchase decision of the Advanced Photo System?
3. How could Fuji anticipate cognitive dissonance associated with its Advanced Photo System and what should it do to reduce it?

Sources:
http://www.fujifilm.com; "Fuji Gives Digital Cameras a Push," HFN The Weekly Newspaper for the Home Furnishing Network , November 18, 1996, p. 54; Pete Hisey, "Discounters, CE Chains Expect Hot Summer Exposure for APS," Discount Store News , June 3, 1996, p. 81.