On 3/21/2012 10:16 AM, Tom C wrote:
Larry Colen wrote:
I think that the single biggest thing Pentax could do to sell
more cameras is to get them into stores where people can buy them.
Well, yeah. But that's a little like saying the best way to become
rich is to make lots of money. It's true, but doesn't provide much
helpful information about how to accomplish the task.
--
Mark Roberts - Photography& Multimedia
www.robertstech.com
So the question becomes... why DOESN'T Pentax have a high-end presence
in Costco, Walmart, Best Buy, and other nationwide brick and mortar
stores? Just about the only retail presence I see is camera shops,
which typically are selling at close to MSRP, and which get a small
fraction of the traffic the above mentioned stores receive.
It's even rare for me to even see a Pentax P&S on sale here.
Tom C.
That kind of bothers me, too. When I got my K-x, I had no idea just how
"obscure" the brand had become. As someone who was previously only a
passive observer of photography and just getting my feet wet, I always
thought of four brands -- Canon, Nikon, Olympus and Pentax -- and
considered them all to be relatively equal competitors in the field.
Boy, was I ever mistaken!
I can't help Pentax's lack of presence in the big-box market is kind of
a self-perpetuating failure, though I do like the sense of community
that comes along with it. What's great about being a Pentaxian is that
when you run into another Pentax shooter, you say, "Hey, look! A fellow
Pentax shooter!" and then you strike up a conversation. This happened
while I was out in California, at the Steampunk convention with Larry
and John Francis -- and it didn't hurt that she was a winsome lass.
I'm guessing you don't get that with Canon and Nikon shooters. I suspect
the large part of their interactions consist of sideways glances to see
which model each other is shooting and what grade of glass they have
attached to them.
Still, it'd be nice to walk into a store and see a K-5 on a display
shelf, just so I could pick one up and handle it for a few moments of
masochistic bliss.
-- Walt
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