n0b0
Offline
• • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
|
 p.7 #6 · Canon's new MAP pricing begins today! | |
henryp wrote:
n0b0 wrote:
If they want to f*** with the customers, simply return the favour. Go import them from Hongkong or something, instead of buying them from American retailers. Then count to 10 and see how fast they change their mind.
I'll hold your hand while you count. :-)
Imported from HongKong might well be considered "grey market" by Canon USA. That'd mean no warranty service and possibly no ability do download/install firmware updates.
No offense to Henry Posner but I don't think B&H or other American retailers are resisting all that hard to this MAP thing. If Canon and all the retailers stand behind this, they can effectively control the market price. It is after all, designed to maximise their profit.
No offense to you but you're being naive. Here's what can happen to a retailer (ANY retailer) who violates MAP. Loss of co-op advertizing money. Loss or reimbursement for rebates. The vendor can (and will) refuse for some period of time to ship more of the item whose MAP price was violated. The vendor can (and will) refuse for some period of time to ship more of any item in that item's genre. The retailer could have its authorized retailer status suspended or voided. Enforcement is strict and the penalties for violations are severe.
n0b0 wrote: And if I was a retailer, I wouldn't be too sad about it either since MAP seem to be designed to prevent price war between retailers and maximise profit. I would then be able to treat preferred customers with "discounts", sell at the actual selling price to those savvy shoppers, play dumb with the rest and charge them the MAP instead of the actual selling price.
Several years ago I attended a retailers' roundtable on MAP in New Jersey. I was the only person from a "big-box" retailer with a substantial mail order and/or web presence. Every other retailer LOVED the whole MAP concept and begged the vendors to cover more products and to raise MAP values so they could charge customers the MAP price without having to dicker over our lower price and maximize profits. If our advertized price for item XX is $MMM and their price is the same, they can more often sell for that advertized price because too many uninformed customers won't know about our lower price.
PERSONAL OPINION:
The idea IMO is to empower the vendor's entire retailer network and strengthen it. After all, if our lower prices drive every other retailer out of business, Canon USA might worry about which of us is the tail and which the dog.
B&H Henry and Adorama Helen are here as damage control
Speaking only for myself I'm here to represent B&H as an employee with 15 years of tenure, as a photographer with 20+ years of professional experience and as someone who, through my B&H contacts, has some understanding of the industry and the market forces which drive it. Damage control is part of what I do, but when a customer has a problem while I want to fix it, my larger mission is to determine if the problem could be avoided for others by some modification of a policy or procedure or whatever. I'd be grateful if you wouldn't minimize or denigrate what I do, ineffective as I may be.
Henry Posner
henryp@bhphoto.com
B&H Photo-Video
First of all, let me apologise if you think I'm belittling what you do, not my intention at all. I'm glad big retailers like B&H and Adorama actually care enough about what people think to send you and Helen here.
By "damage control" in this forum, I simply meant that because the members of this forum are mostly quite savvy in finding the best deal for the gear they want, retailers like B&H have no choice but to tell us to contact them to enquire for the actual selling price. This unfortunately is your job.
Another misunderstanding I'd like to address is the part where I said "I don't think B&H or other American retailers are resisting all that hard to this MAP thing.". I certainly didn't mean for retailers like B&H to behind Canon's back and violate the MAP policy.
I was only wondering if any retailers actually took a stand together and actually told Canon that they're against it, but reading what you said about your attendance in that "retailers' roundtable", I was right about retailers being pro MAP.
I do however, apologise for lumping all the retailers together. I can see how the biggest retailers stand to lose the most from this MAP policy.
I do have one more question though. I noticed some B&H catalogs had just arrived in Australia. Does that mean the pricing in there is invalid?
|
Now, all B&H faithfuls who wanna buy 5DMkIII should start calling B&H sales and ask them to match that BB price. 