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.
