FUJIFILM India Arun Babu
FUJIFILM India has opened its first House of Photography in India, a two-storey, 5,795 sq. ft. imaging destination in Andheri West, Mumbai. It is the company’s eleventh such facility globally, bringing together everything from instax and X Series cameras to GFX, printing solutions, projectors, binoculars, enterprise imaging products and customer support. But Fujifilm does not see the House of Photography simply as a larger camera shop.
Speaking to Digit shortly before the centre was formally announced, Arun Babu, Associate Director, Imaging Solutions Division, Fujifilm India, repeatedly returned to one idea: the company wants people to spend time with its products, learn how to use them and interact with other photographers and creators, regardless of where they eventually make their purchase. “Our objective is to get the best experience out of here,” Arun said. “We are not promoting people to buy from here.” That distinction sits at the centre of Fujifilm’s plans for the new space.
The argument for a dedicated experience centre starts with the breadth of Fujifilm’s imaging portfolio. “Fujifilm was born in 1934, almost 92 years of history, and when I say Fujifilm’s imaging division, it’s vast,” Arun told Digit. “It has a solution where you have an ecosystem of click to print.” That ecosystem now stretches considerably beyond interchangeable-lens cameras. Fujifilm sells instant cameras, mirrorless systems, cinema lenses, binoculars, projectors, printing equipment and the media needed for printing.
“Fujifilm as a brand has the complete ecosystem,” Arun said. “Nowhere in the country, or I would say nowhere in the world, will there be one place where you can find everything together because it’s an amalgamation of B2C and B2B.” The House of Photography is designed to address that fragmentation.
“We are creating this ecosystem or this atmosphere here in Fujifilm where our entire imaging solution is under one roof,” he explained. “People who are clicking, they also come here and enjoy. People who are printing, they also come here. People who are into the business of printing, they also come here and take hands-on experience.”
The Mumbai centre reflects that approach physically. The ground floor is primarily dedicated to consumer products and hands-on demonstrations, including instax, X Series, GFX, QuickSnap and binoculars. The first floor is positioned more as a community and professional space, with a creator studio, workshop area, gallery, Pro Print Centre and enterprise imaging solutions.
For Arun, one of the biggest differences between the House of Photography and a conventional multi-brand retail counter is the amount of time customers can spend understanding a product. “When you are dealing with a B2B product or you are dealing with a camera, these are little high-value products,” he said. “During such buying behaviour, customers tend to spend a lot of time to get along with the product very nicely.” That makes trained staff particularly important. “Our staff is very well trained. They have been rigorously getting trained for the last two months, and they are all from this specific background,” Arun said. “We have hired people also from photography backgrounds. So they know the needs of the consumer and how they shoot and what kind of shooting they do.”
A vlogger walking into the centre, for instance, may need completely different guidance from a commercial photographer evaluating a GFX system or expensive cinema optics. “A vlogger comes with a specific set of requirements compared to a commercial photographer,” Arun said. “So you have to give him or her an atmosphere where they can shoot, they can print their image.”
Fujifilm has therefore built a creator studio into the centre so visitors can shoot, inspect their photographs and compare equipment before making a decision. “They can shoot by themselves, take out their images, compare as much as they want, spend as much time as they want and then take an informed decision,” Arun said. Having spent around two decades in the imaging industry, Arun argues that this kind of retail environment remains relatively uncommon. “There are very few stores who are giving that kind of experience,” he said. “This is our endeavour to give our customer that kind of experience that you can touch and feel each and every product.”
That also means Fujifilm is not judging the success of the House of Photography solely by the number of transactions made inside the building. “Eventually customers will come here, experience the product. They may buy from anywhere in the country,” Arun said. “They can go to a multi-brand counter, they can go to an online store.” Instead, Fujifilm expects the investment to have a broader effect on the brand.
“We believe that this experience store will definitely help us in the overall growth of the brand,” Arun said. The company already has some experience with a smaller-format concept in Delhi, which Arun said has shown benefits extending beyond immediate sales. “By giving such kind of experience, how does the sale improve, how does the overall experience improve, and more importantly the loyalty towards the brand gets better and better,” he said.
For Fujifilm, the physical investment is also intended to signal commitment. “It shows the consumers in the country that the brand is committed to the country, the brand is investing in the country and the brand is working towards the community.” Retail partners, interestingly, are also expected to benefit. Arun said retailers can send customers to the House of Photography to experience equipment they may not have enough shelf space to display themselves.
“When a brand has more than 45 lenses in the X Series, almost 19 lenses in the GFX series, almost more than 20 SKUs only in the camera, it’s very difficult for a retailer or a multi-brand company to keep everything on display,” he explained. That applies even more strongly to specialised professional products. “Even a premium lens which is a cinema lens worth ₹25 lakh is displayed there, which they don’t display, but they can experience it here.”
Getting people into the House of Photography once is only part of the plan. Fujifilm wants workshops, photo walks, creator interactions and other events to give photographers a reason to return. “We believe that if we give our customers a place where a community can be built, where education can be done through various forms, be it photo walks, be it workshops,” Arun said, the House of Photography can serve customers across very different parts of Fujifilm’s portfolio.
“We will be conducting a series of events throughout the year like workshops, photo walks, creators, community gatherings,” he added. “You can meet your gurus, you can meet the people who you get influenced with and then make an informed decision.” The approach changes depending on the audience. For instax, Fujifilm spends considerable effort reaching younger customers through colleges, festivals, fashion events and other youth-oriented properties.
“We are always present wherever these Gen Zs are,” Arun said. Its interchangeable-lens camera audience works differently. “When it comes to cameras, we have a core community which is a little niche community because Fujifilm users are very different kinds of customers who are mostly into travel, they are hobbyists, they are enthusiasts,” he explained, adding that commercial and fashion photographers sit at the other end of that spectrum. Fujifilm uses initiatives such as X Academy to engage those users.
Fujifilm also sees less separation between its youthful instax audience and customers buying X Series cameras than might be expected. “There is a thin line between instax customers and X Series customers,” Arun said. Products such as the X-M5, he argued, have become as much lifestyle objects for some younger buyers as they are photographic tools. “These cameras, they are beautifully designed. It’s a style statement for them, and people do buy for their hobby, luxury travel and all.” The motivation changes as customers move across categories.
“Instax is more of fun, it’s more of memory making,” Arun said. “When they jump to X Series, it’s more of their particular genre. They want to do something specified, they want to do street, travel, vlogging.” Even Fujifilm’s QuickSnap single-use film cameras have found an unexpectedly young audience. “I was also shocked when I saw the survey that that also is mostly purchased by our Gen Zs and millennials,” he said.
That overlapping demographic helps explain why the House of Photography mixes digital cameras, instant photography, film products and other imaging devices rather than dividing them completely. “I don’t mind people coming in, trying instax also, X Series also, binocular also, QuickSnap also, and choose the product which they like.”
Another element Fujifilm is leaning into with younger photographers is its film simulation system. “Fujifilm is known for its film simulations,” Arun said. “Traditionally, if you say Gen X customers, these customers who have been using Fujifilm from ages, they know these film simulations by heart.” Names including Provia, Velvia and Eterna carry decades of history for photographers familiar with Fujifilm’s film business. Recipes built around those simulations are now introducing those characteristics to another generation.
“Gen Zs immediately need to know what Fujifilm is known about and what kind of film simulation, that’s our uniqueness,” Arun said. “Fujifilm is known for its colours. We claim that we are masters of colours because this is said by the photographers. A lot of photographers vouch for it.” The House of Photography will therefore include opportunities for visitors to experiment with film simulations and understand how they alter the resulting image. “Everyone has a different taste, everyone has a different kind of shooting, and that’s why we promote these film recipes during our various events,” he said.
The House of Photography is not limited to product demonstrations. Fujifilm intends to use the location as a support point for existing owners. “Here we will have a touchpoint where people can come and drop their cameras and we will get it repaired and delivered here,” Arun said. The company also plans regular servicing activities.
“We will definitely do a lot of service camps here where people can come and drop their cameras and kits and get it cleaned and get it serviced.” Professional users may also be able to access temporary replacement equipment through Fujifilm’s existing service structure. “In our service centres we definitely have this kind of a setup,” Arun said. “If his camera, unfortunately because of some technical error, if there is some damage, we definitely do give them a loaner product, case to case basis.” The same policy operates across Fujifilm service centres rather than being limited to Mumbai.
The decision to put India’s first House of Photography in Andheri West was not arbitrary. “It took us almost a year to come to a conclusion on how the floor plan would be, and we took a lot of examples from 10 different stores across the world,” Arun said. Mumbai’s creative economy was a significant part of the location decision. “We chose Mumbai, we chose Andheri West because this is a hub. A lot of big production houses are nearby,” he said. “Biggest of the rental houses are nearby. That is one big reason.” At the same time, Andheri West brings the younger consumer traffic Fujifilm wants for categories such as instax and X Series.
“A lot of Gen Z, millennial walk-ins are there because of a lot of stores across the street.” That is reflected in the layout. Arun described the ground floor as predominantly B2C, while the larger upper level is designed around professional solutions and community activity. “The upper floor, which is bigger in space, almost 4,000 square feet, we have kept for community building, doing lots of activities,” he said.
“You have commercial cameras, GFX, you have a studio here, you have a service touchpoint here, you have a library here. People can come and spend time, chill with books on photography and various other educational books.” For Arun, that mix ultimately defines what Fujifilm is attempting to build in Mumbai. It is less about creating another outlet through which cameras can be sold, and more about giving a sprawling imaging portfolio a physical home. “This store is open for the whole of the country,” he said.
And perhaps the simplest measure of success will be whether photographers, creators and curious first-time visitors actually choose to spend time there, even when they have no intention of buying anything that day.