Here's the problem in the US - there is no longer a national dealer network at all. Sourced from
Ace Camera
In Canada you have at least 4 major chains
- 181 - Blacks stores
- 89 - Camera Expert stores
- 140 - Foto Source stores
- 188 - Japan Camera stores
USA only has one national chain and we know what happened. At the link above you can search each state for the smaller, local chains - there are 5 or 6 in each state, then New York and California are huge. Pentax Canada can make their dealer network operate fairly easily. The USA is a real challenge.
- 1300 - Ritz Camera (oops)
- 5 or 6 small chains in each state
In 2009 Pentax USA announced they were shifting to a low-priced, high volume, low margin, low service model using large retailers and internet sales. Managing the process of change to a service-oriented dealer network will take a long time. They have to start somewhere.
When Morgan Stanley hired a new chairman in 2005 the first thing he did was terminate the bottom 20% of the producers by revenue (remember, a financial advisor is 100% commission - the company owes them nothing).
The remaining 80% were absolutely horrified for about 2 weeks - then they realized the benefit to
them of the new plan. They moved on. Revenue per producer, profits, and market share immediately grew 20% and kept growing. Sometime you just have to make a major change and then manage the results.
There
is a plan. It will be apparent to us when ever it becomes apparent, and not before.