I was in Central Camera the other day and asked if they had the Fuji X10 or X100-just wanted to check it out . Well, they didn't have either, and if one was truly interested in it, he or she would have to special order! Now that surprised me. Of course, like Paul says, so much shopping is done online--and not just cameras. I find brick and mortar shopping a bit frustrating--when I can't find what I'm looking for, I'm often told "they have it on line." I do my fair share of online shopping, but I prefer it balanced with brick and mortar browsing and shopping, which is always more fun anyway.
Cheers, Christine On Dec 21, 2012, at 6:55 AM, Paul Stenquist <[email protected]> wrote: > > On Dec 21, 2012, at 7:34 AM, Krisjanis Linkevics > <[email protected]> wrote: > >>> When I bought my *ist-D the local, (30 miles away local, but the only >>> surviving). Camera store still carried Pentax. So I actually got to >>> hold one and try one out before I bought. The more or less local Ritz >>> camera store, actually had a K10D and a number of lenses in stock, but >>> was even further away, (gone now and not much lamented). I have no idea >>> how Pentax expects to gain market share especially as you can see Nikon >>> and Canon products in pretty much any big box store. >> >> I have been pondering this for quite some time now. A few years ago some of >> my family members went to China. I wanted some Pentax gear but the locals >> said Pentax wasn't popular there so no presence in stores. This October my >> wife went to Singapore and I had high hopes for some gear - again, no >> presence in any of the shopping malls. I got a hold of one address that >> carries Pentax but there was no time to get there. >> We have one chain that is kind of the official Pentax dealer here, can even >> see the 645D on display. But again - no presence in any of the other stores >> in contrast to Canon, Nikon and Sony. >> Pentax gear might be good (even if we have to take things like DxO ratings >> with a pound of salt) but no first time customers will ever know it. The >> only store that sells Pentax here is on a roll with Sony now and the only >> sales rep that was ever passionate about Pentax there hasn't been seen for >> the last 4-5 years, probably retired. So even if they are a Pentax dealer >> they are currently focused on selling boatloads of Sony gear. >> >> I don't see any real reason for me to jump ship, I just have to ask myself >> if I am getting and will continue getting a good deal on Pentax if they >> can't sell enough cameras and lenses because of the lack of presence. >> Ultimately as a customer I am paying more just because of their inability to >> sell and they don't have the money to make anything better because I can't >> possibly pay them enough to make any considerable difference to the R&D >> budget. > > The vast majority of camera sales are from on-line sources, where Pentax is > reasonably well represented. The percentage of industry internet sales will > only continue to grow. Maintaining and supporting a brick-and-mortar presence > is expensive and probably not in Pentax's best interest, although they have > dabbled with some presence in Costco stores and were recently available > through Costco's online sources. > > Paul > >> >> kris >> >> -- >> 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. > > > -- > 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. > -- 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.
