From: Paul Stenquist
On Mar 21, 2012, at 11:16 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.
Pentax is still largely a niche product. It's probably volume
constrained in production. The big-box stores and discounters go for
brands that can be supplied in huge volume, all the time. A Pentax is
still somewhat unique. It's not for everyman. I like it that way.
Paul
Shopping the big box stores online, you can find:
K-r & Q at Walmart.com;
K-5 at CompUSA (that I mentioned in my previous post);
Target has the K-r in white, but the red is "out of stock online";
Costco has the K-r + Manfrotto tripod, 2 versions of WG-1 & 3 versions
of the Optio RZ18;
Best Buy has the K-01 "sold out online", Optio VS20, Optio WG-2, K-5,
K-5 kit & Pentax Q;
Staples has the K-5 kit, but they don't list Pentax as a brand they stock;
Office Max has the K-5 kit (shows the silver one);
Office Depot has the K-5, K-r stormtrooper, K-5 kit;
HHGregg only carries Nikon, Canon & Sony ...
I can't think of any other big box stores in our area. Seems to me
Pentax ought to be able stock local dealers, or at least fill orders
from them.
--
PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List
[email protected]
http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow
the directions.
