U.S. buyers: Wolf/Ritz camera losing money by not price matching....

Jim Coffey said:

But Ritz does not want B&H or J&R to set their prices, otherwise
the B&H catalogue becomes their defacto price list and they lose
control over their margins.

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Jim Coffey said:

Nor does B&H want them to do that - then
people will get their catalogue but buy locally - driving up their
cost of business.

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Agreed. Instead of people handling the items at Ritz, but buying them from B&H, people would be handling -and- buying at Ritz...

Jim Coffey said:

Jim Coffey said:

But as I said, I have paid their price before when they were the
only ones I could find who had a particular hot item.

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Of course, that's what they want.

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I was gonna say... They feel no pressure to match prices -except- when it will take a sale from a -local- competitor.

I just don't understand wanting stores to -match- price with a local store. Why go to the hassle of haggling just to get the same price already available elsewhere?

I can see haggling to get them to -beat- the price, but not to -match- it.

--



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Jim Coffey said:

The mistaken conception is that price matching is done for the
consumer; it's not. It's done to keep prices higher than they
would be without a "price match policy."

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I like how they word it, that they'll give you the "best" price... Not the lowest, but -only- as low as the competitor dares to go.

I still wonder how often people go into a Rtz/Wolf store to ask them to -match- a local price... instead of just buying at the lower, local price. Is it some kind of preference/loyaly towards Ritz/Wolf that someone would want to give them 1st-shot at making the sale?

Mike
--



My Picasa albums:
http://picasaweb.google.com/mjvlev

My take on this is: Retailer markets product with "low price guarantee" while knowingly not pricing it such. Retailer markets products $20 over actual low price. Retailer sells 100 products in which ten consumers insists on the lower price. Retailer makes additional $20 on the remaining 90 sales. The retailer is $1800 ahead.

Larry G.
Stone Mtn, GA

Robert Strom said:

Our local Ritz is managed by a guy and several other retail clerks
that have been there for years and are very knowledgable in the
cameras, etc. they sell.

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That's not the case here, the lady at the local store could NOT help me the least when I was looking for a polarizer filter, she didn't know the difference between a circular and a linear, didn't know anything about the lines they carried, could only tell me what she was actually reading on the label right in front of me.

--
Equipement in profile.

aufinger said:

My take on this is: Retailer markets product with "low price
guarantee" while knowingly not pricing it such.

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correct - the reason for teh guarantee i sto keep prices higher than tehy may be without it.

aufinger said:

Retailer markets
products $20 over actual low price. Retailer sells 100 products in
which ten consumers insists on the lower price. Retailer makes
additional $20 on the remaining 90 sales. The retailer is $1800
ahead.

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Whil ethey may have some of that happen, the reality i smost stores price at the same level, and teh price match policy ensures none of them will drop prices since it would bring in extra sales to offset teh loss of revenue w- since consumers would simply take store A's ad and buy at store B. 30 day price promises have the same effect to an even greater degree since not only do you lose the extra sales but will be given back money on sales already made to your own customers. The end results is higher and more stable prices.

mikiev said:

I still wonder how often people go into a Rtz/Wolf store to ask
them to -match- a local price... instead of just buying at the
lower, local price. Is it some kind of preference/loyaly towards
Ritz/Wolf that someone would want to give them 1st-shot at making
the sale?

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Convinence - why drive farther to a store when a closer store will give you the same price? Especially for commodity items like camera gear.

Jim Coffey said:

Whil ethey may have some of that happen, the reality i smost stores
price at the same level, and teh price match policy ensures none of
them will drop prices since it would bring in extra sales to offset
teh loss of revenue w-

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Either your wireless keyboard is running low on battery power - or I seriously want what you're drinking ;-)

Greg Henry said:

Jim Coffey said:

Whil ethey may have some of that happen, the reality i smost stores
price at the same level, and teh price match policy ensures none of
them will drop prices since it would bring in extra sales to offset
teh loss of revenue w-

Click to expand...

Either your wireless keyboard is running low on battery power - or
I seriously want what you're drinking ;-)

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Nah. That's what I call my 'stupid fingers' syndrome, uncorrected. I try to catch some of them, but some people are so used to word processing software picking up those mistakes they no longer see them.

--
Charlie Self
http://www.charlieselfonline.com

For the K10D, Ritz price is the same as B&H and all the others, perhaps because it is new. However, Ritz is throwing in a 4x6 printer, SW, classes, free prints, free printer paper - maybe enough to make up for the taxes?