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Archive 2013 · Why Isn't There a Free Market In Nikon and Canon Equipment?

  
 
RCicala
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p.2 #1 · p.2 #1 · Why Isn't There a Free Market In Nikon and Canon Equipment?


williamkazak wrote:
Most are pushing Canon cameras.


While I don't want to get into the rest of this argument, that is way truer than most people realize. I'm on a small-shop list serve (about 125 vendors) and they were dancing jigs around Nikon's recent stock price and having a verbal contest about how much they've lowered Nikon sales by steering customers to other brands.

They are all struggling, perceive Nikon as screwing them much more than the other brands, and the general attitude is "I'm probably going to close, but I'll try to take Nikon with me." There are exceptions, of course, the last camera store standing in my home town is 100% Nikocentric, for example.



Dec 20, 2013 at 12:57 PM
mco_970
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p.2 #2 · p.2 #2 · Why Isn't There a Free Market In Nikon and Canon Equipment?


RCicala wrote:
While I don't want to get into the rest of this argument, that is way truer than most people realize. I'm on a small-shop list serve (about 125 vendors) and they were dancing jigs around Nikon's recent stock price and having a verbal contest about how much they've lowered Nikon sales by steering customers to other brands.

They are all struggling, perceive Nikon as screwing them much more than the other brands, and the general attitude is "I'm probably going to close, but I'll try to take Nikon with me." There are exceptions, of course, the last camera store standing
...Show more

Roger, do you think Nikon has any clue that they are creating this atmosphere within their brick-and-mortar sales network?



Dec 20, 2013 at 01:02 PM
trenchmonkey
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p.2 #3 · p.2 #3 · Why Isn't There a Free Market In Nikon and Canon Equipment?


Kids, these are great times to be shooting...(pick your brand)
Too much emphasis on the business side of gear and missing the point
regarding the great DR/low noise/clean high ISO bodies at our disposal.
Go shoot what ya got and be thankful, I always come home with a smile.



Dec 20, 2013 at 01:23 PM
mco_970
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p.2 #4 · p.2 #4 · Why Isn't There a Free Market In Nikon and Canon Equipment?


trenchmonkey wrote:
Kids, these are great times to be shooting...(pick your brand)
Too much emphasis on the business side of gear and missing the point
regarding the great DR/low noise/clean high ISO bodies at our disposal.
Go shoot what ya got and be thankful, I always come home with a smile.


Since you said 'Kids', I am going to assume you meant me.

I definitely enjoy my gear, been enjoying it this morning... D600 is a great camera and I have some fine glass.

I do want to see little companies like APT in ABQ able to service Nikon gear, it's in my best interest to have service-oriented companies like that around. Supporting them is just one way of helping the Nikon ecosystem thrive.



Dec 20, 2013 at 02:11 PM
cohenfive
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p.2 #5 · p.2 #5 · Why Isn't There a Free Market In Nikon and Canon Equipment?


The free market is on FM!


Dec 20, 2013 at 02:29 PM
jim allison
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p.2 #6 · p.2 #6 · Why Isn't There a Free Market In Nikon and Canon Equipment?


Hi Ben,
Most people ignore the fact that the brick and mortar stores function as show rooms for the manufacturers.
When I was a rep in NJ there were over 120 camera stores in my former territory. Today there are only three in the state.
There was a law in effect at that time called the Robinson-Patman act that required all manufacturers to offer the same pricing to all dealers.
The point wasn't that they had to change the same price for everybody. It was everbody in the game knew what all the deals
available to all dealers of any size had to be published. You could have a 1000 piece price,
but you had to publish it for all to see. Big companies like Nikon and Canon didn't like that law because they wanted to do whatever they felt necessary
at any given time. What they did was to conspire with major retailers to fix prices, so the brick and mortar stores could compete.They needed these stores as show rooms to drive sales to the B&Hs of the world.
These large dealers honored these map pricing but got better deals then the other dealers.
In other words, the B+Hs of the world were able to make more profit on a Nikon or Canon and almost
everyone else slowly went out of business. The companies loved these large scale dealers.
People like B+H were good business people and you can't blame them for wanting to be successful. However, as was enevitable,
the tail began to wage the dog and mega dealers made greater demmands on the camera companies. To this day camera companies provide display merchandise and pay rent for space
in at least one major dealer. There were even full time employees of camera companies working behind the counter. Now we are moving closer to the final stage. B+H is in a life and deathe struggle with amazon.com
Their employees were instructed to meet Amazon prices over the phone. It is not going to happen over night, but I think that B+H will be eclispsed by Amazon which like B+H is a predator company. Amazon will want to sell for less and
less inorder to take over the market and will demand lowerer and lower pricing from the suppliers until the suppliers can no longer make a profit. What I believe is the obvious conclusion
to this process is for the Nikon and Canon to eliminate the dealers entirely, and only sell direct to the consumer.This could spell the end of smaller companies like Pentax and Olympus.



Dec 20, 2013 at 08:05 PM
MP79
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p.2 #7 · p.2 #7 · Why Isn't There a Free Market In Nikon and Canon Equipment?


Andre Labonte wrote:
But let's get back to photography ... after all, WalMart does not even sell high-end Nikon gear that the vast majority of people on this forum use.

Stick to PHOTOGRAPHY and the OP's original subject of Nikon.



Funny thing is, Walmart does sell some high-end Nikon gear, such as the D800 for example, on their website at least. Generally their prices are not much different than anyone else's (considering the major players selling larger volumes of Nikon gear on-line), but I was once tempted by a great deal on a D300S package that included the 70-300 VR lens, to the effect that I basically got the D300S body for a price under which it was selling for anywhere else by a meaningful margin with the 70-300 VR lens basically thrown in for free on top of it!

The body was meant for a relative who didn't end up using it, so I sold it and it is now being used by another FM member. So basically after selling the D300S NIB I was left with a free 70-300 VR Nikkor lens courtesy of none other than Walmart! Now that was a great deal! And sorry, as yes, this trip down memory lane is not about photography but then neither is the rest of this thread.



Dec 21, 2013 at 01:49 AM
Andre Labonte
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p.2 #8 · p.2 #8 · Why Isn't There a Free Market In Nikon and Canon Equipment?


MP79 wrote:
Funny thing is, Walmart does sell some high-end Nikon gear, such as the D800 for example, on their website at least. Generally their prices are not much different than anyone else's (considering the major players selling larger volumes of Nikon gear on-line), but I was once tempted by a great deal on a D300S package that included the 70-300 VR lens, to the effect that I basically got the D300S body for a price under which it was selling for anywhere else by a meaningful margin with the 70-300 VR lens basically thrown in for free on top of it!
...Show more


**************************
And despite such a great deal, Mom & Pop shops and other retailers like Target, B&H, Amazon, Hunts, Cameta, Adorama, etc. etc. etc. are all still in business. WOW, how is that possible?



Dec 21, 2013 at 06:42 AM
MP79
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p.2 #9 · p.2 #9 · Why Isn't There a Free Market In Nikon and Canon Equipment?


Because it was a fluke of course, and not part of any business strategy. Camera bodies are low margin, so nobody really wants to corner that market (now the accessories and such on the other hand...). But then you knew that as the question was sarcastic.




Dec 21, 2013 at 09:10 AM
Jan Brittenson
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p.2 #10 · p.2 #10 · Why Isn't There a Free Market In Nikon and Canon Equipment?


What is it you find so much cheaper from Amazon? Just some quick checks:
Nikon D800E body: B&H @ $2,996.95, Amazon @ $2,996.95
SB-910 flash: B&H @ $546.95, Amazon @ $546.95
Nikon 70-200/4: B&H @ $1,396.95, Amazon @ $1,396.95

These are the same prices you'll likely find in any local store. And Amazon charges sales tax. Yet they're still killing the competition.

Why? Because not everyone loves spending their day off running around in stores trying to find someone who stocks what they want. With Amazon it's a simple click with cheap next-day shipping (if you have Prime) - ten minutes, then you can spend the rest of the day doing something more interesting. Like, perhaps, grabbing your bag and go shoot.

B&H has a huge shipping disadvantage by having a single warehouse, AND they close on Saturdays. I'm sure the latter is costing them a TON of business, not out of any sort of judgement or spite, but just by the sheer fact that there are such easy alternatives.

B&H has the best return policy and probably the best customer service in the business IMO. But Amazon isn't bad in any absolute sense.



Dec 22, 2013 at 06:13 PM
Red Rover
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p.2 #11 · p.2 #11 · Why Isn't There a Free Market In Nikon and Canon Equipment?


Jan Brittenson wrote:
......................... And Amazon charges sales tax. .......................


Not in Florida.



Dec 22, 2013 at 06:51 PM
trenchmonkey
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p.2 #12 · p.2 #12 · Why Isn't There a Free Market In Nikon and Canon Equipment?


Not in most states.


Dec 22, 2013 at 07:34 PM
MitchSC
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p.2 #13 · p.2 #13 · Why Isn't There a Free Market In Nikon and Canon Equipment?


I think it's only in states that have distribution centers, which will eventually be all 50.


Dec 22, 2013 at 10:03 PM
runamuck
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p.2 #14 · p.2 #14 · Why Isn't There a Free Market In Nikon and Canon Equipment?


Not in Indiana. My Siggy 35 came sans taxes.


Dec 22, 2013 at 10:20 PM
fatvette
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p.2 #15 · p.2 #15 · Why Isn't There a Free Market In Nikon and Canon Equipment?


runamuck wrote:
Not in Indiana. My Siggy 35 came sans taxes.


Only for a few more days. On January 1st Amazon will be required to charge sales tax in Indiana.



Dec 23, 2013 at 12:38 AM
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