Quote: One user comment I read summarized the situation quite well by saying, “I think you are seriously misunderstanding the whole conversation. Pentax has not raised prices. They have required authorized dealers to stick to MSRP [Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price] or some percentage of it (we do not know the exact terms). Pentax is attempting to police their sales channel just as many other manufacturers do. Any additional margin will go to the dealers not Pentax.”
Well, getting quoted by the president of Pentax USA has left me all warm and tingly. I am sure there will be many who will step in and say I only got quoted because I was saying what Ned wanted to hear but I have spent most of my life in business at both the retail and wholesale levels so I think that gives me some experience to intelligently comment on what is happening.
Which I did, here.
What everyone seems to consistently miss (or ignore) is that this is about the long term survival of a brand. Based on the level of discounting I doubt any USA retailers were making much on Pentax. This is not strictly about brick & mortar stores not being able to compete, this is about ALL retailers online or otherwise not making anything on Pentax because no one was policing the sales channel, like most other manufacturers already do. And if there is no profit in an item it loses shelf space, either real or virtual because retailers will not long support a brand that does not return margin to them.
Even if they caused that by discounting the brand themselves. It is the manufacturers job to police the sales channel and make sure there is enough profit in the brand that retailers will want to support it.
But getting quoted by Ned does show that he was reading along. So, Ned if you are still reading along thank you for the quote, it is a great compliment to my forum post writing skills!
And may I direct your attention to
this thread discussing some sales and promotion ideas for Pentax. I know you have professionals working on that stuff, but hey this is free!