Did you guys in the Isles do something to piss off the Japanese?
For all of the belly aching about lense price increases, as far as I can tell the superteles in the States have only gone up 5-6% as a result of all this (which is pretty much in line with the changes in exchange rates in the article.) Hardly seems fair. First, all the brilliant bankers on Wall Street crash the mortgage markets and the world economy tanks. Then, just for good measure, lense prices everywhere else but the US go through the roof. I'm sure we'll pay in the next life......
Interesting read, although I think it underplays the degree to which the "Department Store Bad Christmas" concept applies. Sure, retailers have the luxury of waiting to sell lenses rather than having to unload them like some sort of seasonal item. But retailers also need to maintain cashflow in a recession, so selling a lens at a small profit now might end up being a better option that selling it at a higher profit in six months.
IMO were seeing the beginning of what could be a seismic shift in all sort of retailing patterns (and all sorts of other aspects of the economy). No-one knows what the retail landscape and consumer behaviour will look like in five years but I suspect it will be very different to the heady days (for consumers) of the last five years when we experienced as explosion in consumption and a corresponding race by retailers and manufacturers to mop up as much of the money sloshing around as possible.
Not sure what it means in practice though. At the moment here in the UK Canon prices are going though the roof, for example quoted price on the new 24L has virtually doubled since it was announced. I can cope with prices being so high for a while, because I have no burning need to buy anything, but over a 2 year timescale I will be interested in buying again. Any chance prices will return to sane levels in that kind of timescale?
MajinHurricane wrote:
the article made me hate walmart more.
Walmart..ugh. I hate driving past those big blue warehouses. One thing that irks me the most about them, along with them dictating prices, is the fact that they have 5 out of 50 lanes open when you go to check out.
Ariel Bravy wrote:
I really appreciate people in companies coming out from behind the company facade and actually talking with us like real people.
Guys, I appreciate the nice comments. And I'm surprised many people were interested.
Several people sent me some more information which I've added as updates to the original article. The most notable thing was some open comments by other Japanese manufacturers, notably car companies, who aren't so secretive about things. Their statements and actions universally were "reduction in output to maintain demand", not increasing sales, was the proper response to the global financial situation.
shaunmlavery wrote:
Walmart..ugh. I hate driving past those big blue warehouses. One thing that irks me the most about them, along with them dictating prices, is the fact that they have 5 out of 50 lanes open when you go to check out.
You "hate" then and they "irk" you, yet you shop there? Oxymoronic.
RCicala wrote:
Guys, I appreciate the nice comments. And I'm surprised many people were interested.
Several people sent me some more information which I've added as updates to the original article. The most notable thing was some open comments by other Japanese manufacturers, notably car companies, who aren't so secretive about things. Their statements and actions universally were "reduction in output to maintain demand", not increasing sales, was the proper response to the global financial situation.
Great read indeed!
I was monitoring the availability and prices of some lenses at B&H over the last few weeks, and I was not sure what was going on. Now, I guess I understand it. And I will probably postpone the lens purchase I was considering.
Well written, but not news for anyone that understands mfg. and has been paying attention. This is common behavior, we've seen it before, and if the economy recovers/tanks in the future we'll see it again. There are some oversights in the article though, specifically about Canon's desire to sell lenses. According to the Canon employees I spoken to and what I've read, the lenses typically generate far more profit than a body, so given the choice, it's in Canon's (et. al.) interest to sell more not fewer as a ratio of product mix.
Anyway, the sell-few-charge-more is a widely used business strategy. Why we pay what we do for some goods has nothing to do with the quality, value, etc., but has everything to do with the mfgs business model and market conditions/perceptions. HP used to do this, and apple still does to name two widely known mfgs. Apple uses same exact parts found in any pc, but they spend $5 more on "finish" and charge a lot more; it fools most people.
On another note: This "shortage" situation also applies to the 5d2. Demand is not huge, it's just that there aren't as many around so people think they have to scramble to get one before the next guy....Batteries are artificially limited too.
Ian.Dobinson wrote:
well maybe the lens rental business will benifit from buyers not being able to buy the lens they want
I think that would be a good thing for photographers/consumers. The rental outlets give us an alternative to shelling out the big bucks for items we may not need to have on hand at all times.
jamesf99 wrote:
> Apple uses same exact parts found in any pc, but they spend $5 more on "finish" and charge a lot more; it fools most people.
That's a bit of a myth. Spec up a Dell laptop to Macbook/Pro equivalence, and typically you will find that the Mac is cheaper. What Apple doesn't do is sell stuff below a certain spec or quality standard, perhaps because they don't have the luxury of blaming the software vendor when something doesn't work. The fact is that Macs are quite good value for what they are. If you want to build your own machine of course you can save money, but compared to big reliable brands like Dell and HP Macs aren't any more expensive. You also get some quite nice software thrown in, and a hardware vendor who can't tell you your problem is the fault of the software vendor.
