I'm sort of confused by Oly marketing

I know here in Iowa it is mainly the small camera stores that are running them self's out of Olympus business. I try every few months to purchase some of my gear from either Portes or Photo Pro or Christian photo and they either refuse to get what I need or at best say they will order it, keep in mind the closest store is 50 miles. My best experience With ordering something from one of them took 3 tries I had to "remind" them I ordered it and still wanted it and it only took them 7 weeks and it still was not the right product. So every few months I may call and ask if they have what I need in stock and if they say they can order it, well so can I from B&H and not pay taxes and get it a lot quicker and the right thing.
--

I know my spelling and grammar are poor some times my spell check says 'I got nothing

for you' and there/ their is no grammar check yet so please forgive me Jesus did.

I agree with you, and equally worry about it. Major retailer presence is critical in establish marketshare. People like to see & touch a product they going to buy. If I never touch an Olympus E410, I would have dismiss that camera completely. The LCD/plasma maker Vizio, Inc. is a great example. It was a completely unknown company 2 years ago with only 1 major account, Costco. Todays, vizio sells more LCD/Plasma than panasonic, pioneer, or Hitachi. It is now threatening hte sale of sony & samsung sets. This kind of success is only possible through the Costco, which has a retail presence in every city in the USA. The only major electronic store with that kind of distribution power is Best Buy or walmart. Olympus should do everything it can for best buy to pick up its slr again.

James Sherman said:

First I see a bunch of posts where people are saying that they can't
get Oly stuff locally because Oly has decided to go big box store
only. Then I see that Best Buy has discontinued the E-510. This
trend can't continue too long before Oly will be sold exclusively by
B&H (or whoever) at list price - followed very soon by their exit
from the market altogether.

Am I the only one who's a bit concerned about this? To me it seems a
bit suicidal.

Jim

Click to expand...

--
FANBOY(i)sm is a NEUROSIS, Get Help!

James Sherman said:

Louis_Dobson said:

1) Things are not getting worse, they are getting better.

Click to expand...

You could be right, but it doesn't look that way here.

Click to expand...

AFAICS since late 2005 they have got rid of much of their senior management, moved design in house (I believe Sanyo were behind the earlier ones, no?), put the aggressive Mr Bang in charge (extraordinary - he's Korean) and kciked all the marketing departments up the backside. You'll see a presence in stores that was simply not there before. I'm sorry it hasn't happened in Portland, but it has generally.

James Sherman said:

If grocery stores operated that way, you'd have 2 choices of bread,

Click to expand...

They do operate that way, and you do have two choices of bread. There are probably tens of thousands of industrial sized bakers but I bet if you look up the brands of bread in your supermarket you will find they almost all come from two large companies. There is even a reality program on UK telly at the moment called "Breaking Into Tescos" - the UK's largest grocer.

James Sherman said:

one brand of - name it - the competition for shelf space is fierce.
The salient point is competition. Oly mostly doesn't compete. As
far as the grocery stores are concerned, they'd be ecstatic with a
profit margin of 2%. They make a chunk of that off of vendor
incentives. Again, Oly seems not to care. Different business, yes,
but the same things are happening.

Click to expand...

Simply because Oly does not succeed, you assume they don't try.

James Sherman said:

James Sherman said:

So your root post effectively said "Are things getting worse?" and
the answer is "No, they are getting better."

Click to expand...

Well, so you say. Personally, I don't see it.

Click to expand...

Apparently Portland Oregon is an Oly free zone. Well that's unfortunate, but there used to be a lot of Oly free zones and now there are less.

James Sherman said:

My point you so frequently miss is that it's the Oly salesmans' JOB
to make the store want to carry his product. What the hell do they
pay them for?

Click to expand...

They pay them to try and get stores to buy product at a price that makes Oly money. They don't always, or even very often, succeed, but they do so more than they used to.

James Sherman said:

James Sherman said:

I agree it is a PITA - I like to buy lenses off shops I know so I can
return them if they are a naff sample.

Click to expand...

Me too, but I'd like to see some competitive pricing thrown into the
pot.

Click to expand...

Pricing is already too low. A few years ago dSLRs were a licence to print money, and Oly misssed the party because all they had were the E1 and E300 which the public didn't want. Now they have the cameras, but the dollar has collapsed and competition is fierce, and nobody is making any money again. Prices will rise, not fall. Camera companies exist to make money, not sell cameras.

James Sherman said:

I don't expect a local store to underprice the big mail order
firms, they simply can't. Oly could do something creative, though.
Put a link on their web site pointing to dealers by city who have a
full kit IN HAND and offer an incentive to people who buy through the
stores AND the stores for keeping it going. That would put prices
perhaps between the big mail order places and full list. A lot more
people would see Oly equipment! The last time I looked at the Oly
site, they didn't have any links pointing to dealers at all.

Click to expand...

Talking to camera shops, the consensus is that Canon, Nikon and Olympus are all completely useless at selling cameras.

If I were Olympus, I'd look seriously at doing a Dell and selling direct over the net. Selling through shops costs a fortune. I suppose what stops them is the P&S impulse buys.

--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/acam

The biggest (I think) mail-order / internet fasion clothes company in
Sweden, Ellos, are selling Olympus and Canon DSLRs, not the others.
Maybe maketing the E-410 as a fashion accessory for women is working.

EDIT: Was intended as a reply to the OP.

Just my two oere
Erik from Sweden
--
CA is a chromatic abbreviation

Something funny happeren yesterday, I stopped at a local Ritz/Wolf Camera in Dallas just to see if anything new had come in. No nothing new, but in walks a young lady who said she just broke her camera and she needed a new one. She looking at P&S only- something small and flat to keep in her pocket. Well the salesman puts 3 different cameras on the counter - 1 Nikon 1 Canon and 1 Sony. She then asked about the little Olympus Stylus kinda waterproof / crushproof etc.. Well he told her that he would not recomend that brand to any of his customers! The Olympus was a little cheaper on price than the other models. He was pushing the Canon and the Nikon. He was pushing the warranty even harder. I might be wrong but, the cheaper the camera the cheaper the warranty costs. Does camera stores charge for display space? I would think that the big box stores could. I know for a fact that retailers selling new products to Walmart pays for display space for a certain amount time and when that time is up they will have you taking that display down until they get more money. Does the camera shops make more profits off of different brands of cameras? Does the camera manufactures pay for display space? I know the answer! Some will just pay a little more than others.

The important thing (other than the amusing fact itself) is that it's a Swedish company. Oly America hasn't tried that as far as I know - not that I have much to do with female fashions. It does sort of confirm a post I saw here a while ago though (that Oly was going to try to push the E-420 as a ladies camera). I just hope they don't make them in pink!

With my wife as an example (possibly not typical) I don't think it'll amount to much. She wants a "PHD" camera, where PHD stands for Push Here Dummy. Her words. She wants good pictures and doesn't want to know how they happen. No interest in a camera with more than one button. Of course, if you ask her what kind of car she drives, the answer is likely to be "green". She's no dummy, and has a highly technical job, but she has no masculine tool fetish. There ARE many excellent woman photographers and no reason why they can't be, so please don't flame me for stereotype abuse! I just don't see too many women at tourist spots with DSLRs. Hopefully, over time, if they continue to market good cameras to women that will change - and maybe it won't. Be interesting to see.

That's exactly what I'm saying. Oly marketing just isn't fighting for shelf space. That little Stylus is likely a direct descendant of the one that got me hooked on Olympus. We called it the rat because it had a lanyard and was little and gray - but it survived numerous face plants while skiing (and other abuse) and delivered great pictures throughout its' long life. When I started thinking digital, I looked at Olympus first - and wound up with a C2500L. I have some pretty darn nice shots from that camera that are worth keeping in the photo library, too. If that woman had the exposure to the Olympus brand she should have had, things might have gone differently.

I don't know if it has been said in any other post for this, but I feel that the lack of Oly product in the best buys and circuit citys is because of the American people are stuck on the Canon and Nikon name brands. When I worked at a circuit city store here in my home town we were told to push the canon and nikon more than any others, however I'm not a sheep and sold more Olympus than anything else when I got the chance. I never had anyone unhappy with the product they bought and noticed that we had fewer returns of the Olympus cameras being sold which I would say comes from a higher rate of customer satisfaction. I believe in the product that Olympus sells and feel that it is second to none no matter what anyone else has to say!
--
Daniel

new E-510 lens kit
old C-5060 w/ extention lens and dive case

Louis_Dobson said:

AFAICS since late 2005 they have got rid of much of their senior
management, moved design in house (I believe Sanyo were behind the
earlier ones, no?)

Click to expand...

I believe that many of the Nikon smaller digitals are also made by Sanyo, I know they used to be.

Louis_Dobson said:

Louis_Dobson said:

If grocery stores operated that way, you'd have 2 choices of bread,

Click to expand...

They do operate that way, and you do have two choices of bread.
There are probably tens of thousands of industrial sized bakers but I
bet if you look up the brands of bread in your supermarket you will
find they almost all come from two large companies. There is even a
reality program on UK telly at the moment called "Breaking Into
Tescos" - the UK's largest grocer.

Click to expand...

Wrong. I did happen to look last night and the parent bakers are quite numerous. I also spent my career in the business as an IT system administrator for a food producer and I know people in the business today. As a matter of fact, specialty breads are a growth industry. IN THE US. Perhaps your country is different but the OP was about Oly America.

Louis_Dobson said:

Simply because Oly does not succeed, you assume they don't try.

Click to expand...

If I look diligently and don't see any evidence of them trying then I can safely assume that they didn't try hard enough!

Louis_Dobson said:

Apparently Portland Oregon is an Oly free zone. Well that's
unfortunate, but there used to be a lot of Oly free zones and now
there are less.

Click to expand...

No, it's not Oly free. It's Oly starved. There's some demand, but the stores apparently feel free to ignore it in most part. They will order stuff for you (some of them, anyway) but as for a stocking dealer - just one - with most of the lenses on hand. Nope. I believe that's Oly's fault for not making it worth their while. Portland is a large enough city to support it, believe me.

Louis_Dobson said:

Louis_Dobson said:

My point you so frequently miss is that it's the Oly salesmans' JOB
to make the store want to carry his product. What the hell do they
pay them for?

Click to expand...

They pay them to try and get stores to buy product at a price that
makes Oly money. They don't always, or even very often, succeed, but
they do so more than they used to.

Click to expand...

They need to pay THE STORES.

Louis_Dobson said:

Pricing is already too low. A few years ago dSLRs were a licence to
print money, and Oly misssed the party because all they had were the
E1 and E300 which the public didn't want. Now they have the cameras,
but the dollar has collapsed and competition is fierce, and nobody is
making any money again. Prices will rise, not fall. Camera
companies exist to make money, not sell cameras.

Click to expand...

Sadly, I have to agree with much of that. But you often must spend money to make money and your statement basically says that my prediction of the future is more likely to be correct.

Louis_Dobson said:

Talking to camera shops, the consensus is that Canon, Nikon and
Olympus are all completely useless at selling cameras.

Click to expand...

Every National Geographic (and many other NON CAMERA magazines) has a Canon ad. I see them on TV. I've never seen an Oly ad except in a photo magazine. That's preaching to the already converted.

Louis_Dobson said:

If I were Olympus, I'd look seriously at doing a Dell and selling
direct over the net. Selling through shops costs a fortune. I
suppose what stops them is the P&S impulse buys.

Click to expand...

Dell also sells through Costco, which has a national presence. Look at Olys' ebay store. They're the highest prices around, for the most part. You can see that they set the reserves so high that they won't sell. I've seen many, many camera bodies go off without ever reaching the reserve price. They could sell them for $20 less, but they won't. If others can and do, then that tells me that Oly hasn't a clue what the market will bear. And they pay fees to ebay for every time they list a camera - after a while it's losing them money. When they flogged the old style 40-150 lenses through Cameta, they sold quickly at decent prices. Did they learn from that? Nope. Their refurbs are also only given a 890 day warranty. Not a good sign. I bought a refurbished Mac Pro from Apple because it came with the same warranty as a new one.

That was supposed to say 90 day warranty.

Ever since Ritz obsorbed Wolf, they haven't carried Olympus products. This is, as I have heard through being with the company when they were in the process of merging, due to the nature of the final relationship Wolf had with Oly as they were in the process of declaring bankruptcy and left Oly with a rather large unpayed bill. Oly asked for the money from Ritz saying they would stop dealing to them if they didn't get their money. Ritz felt that they had the upper hand in the matter as they are the largest specialty camera retailer in the states and called the bluff. Oly walked and started dealing with big box shops.

Here in the Portland area, you can still find Oly at other locally owned retailers, but only chains from what I have seen as they are the only ones that can move the right volume to keep competitive.

Honestly, if you love the product and you can't find it locally, don't feel bad. Get it online. Best Buy is another option to keep going to, and yes because they are not a specialty dealer they may not have have the deepest selection, but they will usually carry the current bodies and most popular consumer lenses unless they are about to be discontinued or replaced.

Good luck with looking for your new gear. It is a bummer that Oly is getting hard to put your hands on, the same thing is happening with Pentax and Sigma gear out here.
--
Wow...that's a pretty killer camera! Are you any good?

-Jake-

James Sherman said:

I believe that many of the Nikon smaller digitals are also made by
Sanyo, I know they used to be.

Click to expand...

Yes Sanyo do a lot of design and build. I believe they are in the doo doo in some way...

James Sherman said:

James Sherman said:

James Sherman said:

If grocery stores operated that way, you'd have 2 choices of bread,

Click to expand...

They do operate that way, and you do have two choices of bread.
There are probably tens of thousands of industrial sized bakers but I
bet if you look up the brands of bread in your supermarket you will
find they almost all come from two large companies. There is even a
reality program on UK telly at the moment called "Breaking Into
Tescos" - the UK's largest grocer.

Click to expand...

Wrong. I did happen to look last night and the parent bakers are
quite numerous. I also spent my career in the business as an IT
system administrator for a food producer and I know people in the
business today. As a matter of fact, specialty breads are a growth
industry. IN THE US. Perhaps your country is different but the OP
was about Oly America.

Click to expand...

Ah, OK, bad example for me to pick then - in the UK there are still about twenty sliced breads but when you look I think they all come from a couple of conglemerates (Unilever and ?). Do washing powder or something else. The number of names does not represent the number of companies...

James Sherman said:

James Sherman said:

Simply because Oly does not succeed, you assume they don't try.

Click to expand...

If I look diligently and don't see any evidence of them trying then I
can safely assume that they didn't try hard enough!

Click to expand...

I see them trying. I got talking to the Oly rep at Calumet, so I know his face, and he was, by coincidence, at the next two companies I visited.

James Sherman said:

James Sherman said:

Apparently Portland Oregon is an Oly free zone. Well that's
unfortunate, but there used to be a lot of Oly free zones and now
there are less.

Click to expand...

No, it's not Oly free. It's Oly starved. There's some demand, but
the stores apparently feel free to ignore it in most part. They will
order stuff for you (some of them, anyway) but as for a stocking
dealer - just one - with most of the lenses on hand. Nope. I believe
that's Oly's fault for not making it worth their while. Portland is
a large enough city to support it, believe me.

Click to expand...

I don't see how you make it worth their while except by...

James Sherman said:

They need to pay THE STORES.

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Oh no. It is all very well saying you have to spend money to make money, but sometimes you have to stop spending money to stop throwing it down the sewer.

If no shop in Portland is interested enough to pay Oly a reasonable rate for its cameras, so be it.

James Sherman said:

James Sherman said:

Pricing is already too low. A few years ago dSLRs were a licence to
print money, and Oly misssed the party because all they had were the
E1 and E300 which the public didn't want. Now they have the cameras,
but the dollar has collapsed and competition is fierce, and nobody is
making any money again. Prices will rise, not fall. Camera
companies exist to make money, not sell cameras.

Click to expand...

Sadly, I have to agree with much of that. But you often must spend
money to make money and your statement basically says that my
prediction of the future is more likely to be correct.

Click to expand...

No, your prediction is that Oly are up the swanee. As far as I can see they are doing relatively well in a difficult market.

James Sherman said:

James Sherman said:

Talking to camera shops, the consensus is that Canon, Nikon and
Olympus are all completely useless at selling cameras.

Click to expand...

Every National Geographic (and many other NON CAMERA magazines) has a
Canon ad. I see them on TV. I've never seen an Oly ad except in a
photo magazine. That's preaching to the already converted.

Click to expand...

Canon sell, what, eight times as many cameras as Oly? So they have eight times the marketing budget.

James Sherman said:

James Sherman said:

If I were Olympus, I'd look seriously at doing a Dell and selling
direct over the net. Selling through shops costs a fortune. I
suppose what stops them is the P&S impulse buys.

Click to expand...

Dell also sells through Costco, which has a national presence.

Click to expand...

Well well, I knew Dell were in trouble, but I didn't know it had got THAT bad! Selling through CostCo is desperate indeed.

Since you've worked as a sysadmin in retail, you know perfectly well that in a low margin business adding ten percent to the price doubles the profit. And fool can flog stuff off cheap, the idea is to flog it off EXPENSIVELY. The stuff Oly punt out through Cameta is unlikely to do the any good at all.

There seems to be a common view in here that all Oly have to do is sell cameras. Oly could be the market leader tomorrow if they sold E3s at $50, however that isn't the idea! The idea is to maximise profit, not turnover.

--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/acam

worsham said:

I don't know if it has been said in any other post for this, but I
feel that the lack of Oly product in the best buys and circuit citys
is because of the American people are stuck on the Canon and Nikon
name brands. When I worked at a circuit city store here in my home
town we were told to push the canon and nikon more than any others,
however I'm not a sheep and sold more Olympus than anything else when
I got the chance. I never had anyone unhappy with the product they
bought and noticed that we had fewer returns of the Olympus cameras
being sold which I would say comes from a higher rate of customer
satisfaction. I believe in the product that Olympus sells and feel
that it is second to none no matter what anyone else has to say!
--
Daniel

new E-510 lens kit
old C-5060 w/ extention lens and dive case

Click to expand...

I don't know about that, I work in retail and although I'm not told to push any one brand that we carry, Oly and Sony give big $$$ spiffs to get us to try to push them. Sometimes I do, when I feel the customer would be better off with Oly, especially macro shooters on a budget (the 35mm is great for the price). I don't doubt Oly's quality and I think their products stand on their own, but they definitely are the most generous company to salesmen. Canon on the other hand think their reputation sells cameras alone and so they aren't nearly as rewarding to sell for us salesmen.
--
-Scott
http://www.flickr.com/photos/redteg94/

--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/acam

Louis_Dobson said:

Louis_Dobson said:

They need to pay THE STORES.

Click to expand...

Oh no. It is all very well saying you have to spend money to make
money, but sometimes you have to stop spending money to stop throwing
it down the sewer.
If no shop in Portland is interested enough to pay Oly a reasonable
rate for its cameras, so be it.

Click to expand...

That IS what happens in the grocery stores, and many others as well. I hate to use the car industry as an example but there's a thing called "holdback", where the dealer can sell you a car at invoice price and still get a check from the manufacturer later. Or they could run a modest promotional allowance program with an ad or two so people know about it - and then actually send the rebate checks out quickly (novel concept, I know). Hell, I missed out on a rebate recently (from Oly) because I was simply unaware of it. They're giving away battery grips for E-3s right now - but only through "select dealers" and they won't tell you which dealers... "Offer applies to select dealers, contact your local dealer for participation prior to purchase". Like he's going to tell you??? That's simply nuts.

Louis_Dobson said:

Canon sell, what, eight times as many cameras as Oly? So they have
eight times the marketing budget.

Click to expand...

Chicken or egg?

Louis_Dobson said:

however that isn't the idea! The idea is to maximise
profit, not turnover.

Click to expand...

Agreed, within reason. There is a middle ground, though. Some companies sell their lowest priced items at close to zero profit to get you hooked into going upscale later. I'd say the E-4xx series would be a good place to really cut profit to the bone. Charge the absolute minimum FOR THE 420 BODY. Charge the same for ONE lens. Charge enough to make a profit on everything else. The price for the 14-42 and 40-150 in a kit (compared to the body alone) is ridiculously low. I sold mine for enough to buy my 14-54. Once you have some time with the entry level camera, you'll buy lenses and maybe a better body. But you're in the system. They also could use a middle ground model between the E-5xx and the E-3 (with a bigger difference between the 420 and the 5xx), or an E-4 and a much cheaper E-3. The jump from the 510 to the E3 is just too painful for many. The first two rungs of the product ladder are too close together and the next one's way too far up there (even if it's worth every penny).

And holdbacks and rebates and all that guff is generally a mark of total desperation for a business model that is about to implode.

As for chicken and egg: everybody knows the name Canon, and consumer electronic stores also sell their printers. It takes decades to unseat a market leader rmaking rubbish products - look at IBM, who sold rubbish to idiots for years on the basis of "Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM."

Oly are doing fine as a smaller maker, though naturally they are trying to grow their share (who isn't?).

Their presence has improved hugely in the last couple of years, they'd be nuts to blow it by giving away margin everywhere just to penetrate a few more stores.

--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/acam

ShelliDawn said:

Hmm, well, I just called the store referenced in that thread, and the
guy I spoke to said that they are expecting to get the 420 to sell
and "hasn't heard that they won't be getting it". He did say that
Oly only sold some P&S cameras through the big box stores, but never
a dSLR.

It could be the other poster spoke with someone who was misinformed,
or I just did, but I would extremely surprised if the store couldn't
stock the 420.

Click to expand...

You're not alone, Shelli. TCS has at least one specialist in Oly gear who gets invited to all Oly's seminars, presentations etc. The idea that TCS wouldn't be getting the E-420 seems like madness to me. 'Specially since they carried the E-410 (which was also carried by Canadian Big Box stores like Future Shop and Best Buy).

Garth

James Sherman said:

That IS what happens in the grocery stores,

Click to expand...

Bread and cameras are a strange comparison. Inventory turns are a lot higher in grocery stores. Bread goes stale faster, but the grocer won't get caught with a $1000 lens on the shelf, or worry about new Supersonic Wave Bread making existing stock obsolete.

James Sherman said:

"Offer applies to select dealers, contact your local dealer for
participation prior to purchase".

Click to expand...

Yes, that's bad marketing. Do a dealer spiff to encourage stores to stock and sell new stuff. Do a consumer rebate to generate interest and demand, but the buyer should not have to ask the store if they will honour the rebate

James Sherman said:

Agreed, within reason. There is a middle ground, though. Some
companies sell their lowest priced items at close to zero profit to
get you hooked into going upscale later. I'd say the E-4xx series
would be a good place to really cut profit to the bone. Charge the
absolute minimum FOR THE 420 BODY. Charge the same for ONE lens.
Charge enough to make a profit on everything else. The price for the
14-42 and 40-150 in a kit (compared to the body alone) is
ridiculously low.

Click to expand...

Lots of E-4xx kit buyers will never purchase another lens or accessory but are attracted to well priced kits. A buyer of an E-4xx body probably has other Oly equipment, recognizes the value of it and will pay what gives the dealer a reasonable margin. Why give stuff away to those customers? Buyers of mid range and pro bodies will purchase lenses and accessories. If anything, sell those bodies at lower margin to encourage existing owners to upgrade. Maybe they already do, considering the lower product volume on high end gear.

James Sherman said:

They also could use
a middle ground model between the E-5xx and the E-3 The jump from the
510 to the E3 is just too painful for many.

Click to expand...

We agree there. I might upgrade, but would be reluctant to buy something as expensive and complex as the E-3 as a next step.

Aiming their marketing directly at C and N is a recipie for a price and feature war. Oly's cameras are based on quality, innovation, and differentiation. They need to research those buyers and find marketing campaigns that appeal to them. I think that's what drives the Weather Network and Canadian Geographic ads... active mobile people to which a compact camera and lens system holds a lot of appeal.

I'm not saying Oly does outstanding marketing. I don't like all of their magazine ads or billboards. I think their "The weather, brought to you by Olympus" on the Canadian weather network was brilliant. And certainly in Canada they have dramatically increased their advertising in the last year, after the launch of the E-4/510 and E-3.
--
BruceMcK
http://www.pbase.com/brucemck

People like to make fun of BestBuy sales clerk for not knowing much. However, BestBuy sales clerk are more brand neutral than your local camera store sales person. Local camera store, as well as chains like Ritz, gets different financially incentive for pushing a particular camera.

For a while the Ritz were pushing the Nikon DSLR hard because they get extra 15% bonus commission on selling nikon slr. Canon DSLR suddendly became trashed, Canon 5D is so 3 years old, and avoid Oympus because 4/3 is going away. Once the promotion is over, suddenly canon isn't so bad afterall.

JLBROWN3 said:

Something funny happeren yesterday, I stopped at a local Ritz/Wolf
Camera in Dallas just to see if anything new had come in. No nothing
new, but in walks a young lady who said she just broke her camera and
she needed a new one. She looking at P&S only- something small and
flat to keep in her pocket. Well the salesman puts 3 different
cameras on the counter - 1 Nikon 1 Canon and 1 Sony. She then asked
about the little Olympus Stylus kinda waterproof / crushproof etc..
Well he told her that he would not recomend that brand to any of his
customers! The Olympus was a little cheaper on price than the other
models. He was pushing the Canon and the Nikon. He was pushing the
warranty even harder. I might be wrong but, the cheaper the camera
the cheaper the warranty costs. Does camera stores charge for display
space? I would think that the big box stores could. I know for a fact
that retailers selling new products to Walmart pays for display space
for a certain amount time and when that time is up they will have you
taking that display down until they get more money. Does the camera
shops make more profits off of different brands of cameras? Does the
camera manufactures pay for display space? I know the answer! Some
will just pay a little more than others.

Click to expand...

--
FANBOY(i)sm is a NEUROSIS, Get Help!

007peter said:

This kind of success is only possible through the Costco, which has a retail presence > in every city in the USA.

Click to expand...

Not true - we don't have one in Syracuse, NY

--
Good shooting.

• Adam

Equipment in plan