| I read in a post awhile back (not sure if it's true or not) that Pentax (Hoya) is requiring dealers to purchase larger quantities of stock in order to qualify as a Pentax dealer. Many stores (right or wrong) do not sell as much Pentax gear as they do N and C, so they don't want to put out the investment and decide to drop their focus on Pentax.
If this is true, I'm not sure of the wisdom in their marketing strategy. Pentax does not have the market share that Nikon and Canon do, and apparently doesn't care. That's fine, but if the only place you can get a Pentax camera is at a big-box store, you run the risk of being branded as a cheaper and/or second-rate product.
Increasing dealer stock minimums to qualify as a dealer sounds like someone's quick idea to cut costs or improve margins. Less paperwork/admin costs, higher volume. It doesn't always work. Or they are trying to go "internet" on their sales for the same reasons. These types of decisions can be SOP when a company is bought by another and wants to make changes.
Again...don't know if this is true or not. |