[monochrome]

Let's face it. There is a war going on in retail between the American-centric Amazon.com model of retail sales and everything else.

This is seen in all types of retail goods today, from books to TV's. The Japanese companies viscerally *detest* the inability to restrict distribution sales. It's partly what got their brands in TV sales killed. They go for brand loyalty over price bargaining by consumers, and when the wind shifts to being commodity, consumer-centric, most Japanese electronics companies have flailed around. Canon's been a little smarter than most, but then again, they forged their dominance by better understanding the North American consumer market better than the competition. Toyota and their "no dicker sticker" was an utter failure, now Nissan is trumping them in price and value. Some companies get it, some do not. Perhaps Ricoh with its copier sales model will insert some common sense into the Pentax brand which seems to be dominated by old geezers who listen to their teenage daughters wanting colorful cameras.

My reading of his blog, and the April Fool's Day 2012 changes that followed,
is that he realized the problem, and did attempt to address it,
however much his attempts went against what @Aristophanes
has just called the "American-centric Amazon.com model of retail sales."

The next few years will be very interesting
(in the sense of the Chinese curse),
as we see the clash of that model
with the old-school approach of B&M
and the culture of traditionally-run Japanese firms.

Given that the US Congress seems determined to pass a law requiring on-line retailer to collect sales tax I wouldn't bet against the B&M Merchants just yet. The price differential should then be reasonably explained by whether you want to see/hold/try the item before buying adn whether you want to pay a sales person to help you select the item. There might evolve a differentiation between "dickering" tores and "friendly" stores where prices are clearly marked and there is no incentive to "switch" or "lead" a buyer into a specific product. I'll opt for the latter every time for the big stuff and buy the accessories on a price basis.

[RockvilleBob]

Pentax has really got to do a number of things... Increase marketing, get more camera bodies out there; especially full frame and at a price that is close to the entry level Nikon full frame, get considerably more lenses with both Pentax labels on them and also more incentive for more third party releases, and also get more products in general out there.

Bulls eye - absolutely on target. If they get more good camera bodies out there at a competitive price, get more quality lenses introduced, and provide incentives for third party lens releases - perhaps the marketing will take care of itself.

[Aristophanes]

Given that the US Congress seems determined to pass a law requiring on-line retailer to collect sales tax I wouldn't bet against the B&M Merchants just yet. The price differential should then be reasonably explained by whether you want to see/hold/try the item before buying adn whether you want to pay a sales person to help you select the item. There might evolve a differentiation between "dickering" tores and "friendly" stores where prices are clearly marked and there is no incentive to "switch" or "lead" a buyer into a specific product. I'll opt for the latter every time for the big stuff and buy the accessories on a price basis.

Price trumps everything for 99% of what we are talking about. As with smartphones cameras have become a commodity again after the move to all-digitall gusher has run out of easy oil. These price hikes are an attempt to keep unit values high in the face of declining volumes, but in doing so goes against the grain of the consumer bargaining model made ubiquitous by the Amazon.com (photoprice.ca...etc.) models of distribution.

I just bought 2 chairs on the internet! Chairs!!!! Nothing is scared, and I think B&M stores will only thrive if they have both a real world presence AND a web-based, price conscious equivalent. It's that price-consciousness that's giving fits to retail electronics because the goods are portable.

I think the tax issue is a wash, frankly, applying almost exclusively to in-US merchandise. Being from Canada, the inhibitions about cross-border shopping based on price are evaporating even with taxation applied which has been the case for 7 years now.

I'm not betting against B&M but only for the smart ones that understand internet pricing and bargaining is here to stay.

[beholder3]

[deleted]

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Last edited by beholder3; 08-12-2013 at 01:33 AM. Reason: [deleted]

[gf1]

Adorama and Abe's of Maine have just significantly increased the prices on 10 Pentax lenses. I don't know what to make of this, but here's a post explaining the facts:

Are Pentax lens prices going up again? - Pentax News - PentaxForums.com

B&H isn't displaying the new prices (yet?), but what do you guys think about all this?

Can anybody explain to me how new pentax strategy is going to encourage public to buy pentax lenses?

[Kunzite]

It does, for those lenses with rebates?
But then, Pentaxians usually are ignoring rebates and promotional prices.

[Docrwm]

Can anybody explain to me how new pentax strategy is going to encourage public to buy pentax lenses?

The theory goes that newbies, not knowing the old prices, will see the new prices and think "Wow, lenses that cost that much MUST be Most EXCELLENT!" and feel honored to be able to afford to carry a Pentax.

[RockvilleBob]

Let's hope they put the 560 on sale for about $4,000 soon - might be a better deal at that price over the Sigma 500 - maybe.

[Kunzite]

And Pentax will once again become the cheap brand, without getting market share in return.

[falconeye]

I think the recent hike has two reasons:

Some insanity as some say (after all lens price hikes are rather common in the industry).

But also, some of the lenses may be out of production and may start to become rare. I think of the FA 31 in particular. A price hike then actually does make some sense: it preserves availability for those in urgent need.

I am not sure why this has happened though.

BTW, in Germany the FA 31 is at a constant 1300€ since beginning of 2012. It was 970€ from 2005 to early 2009.

[incidentflux]

The FA31 is AED 4845 (USD 1319) in the UAE, checked yesterday they had one piece left.

[Kunzite]

I think the recent hike has two reasons:

Some insanity as some say (after all lens price hikes are rather common in the industry).

But also, some of the lenses may be out of production and may start to become rare. I think of the FA 31 in particular. A price hike then actually does make some sense: it preserves availability for those in urgent need.

I am not sure why this has happened though.

BTW, in Germany the FA 31 is at a constant 1300€ since beginning of 2012. It was 970€ from 2005 to early 2009.

If I were in their place and preparing a FF system (let's say to be launched in 2014), some of those lenses would be the firsts to be replaced with new version (of course, standard zooms being first priority). The FA Limiteds would make good candidates to be updated, with QSF, HD coatings, weather sealing (hopefully) and optics able to withstand the most extreme pixel peeping. The 14mm f/2.8 could be replaced by a FF lens. The DA 12-24 could be replaced by (probably) an APS-C lens, according to the roadmap. This scenario assumes the process will take quite a while (thus, the need to slow down the sales for some products)
But I'm probably too optimistic (someone has to be, right? ), and I'm definitely an outsider, so the real reason could be entirely different.

[incidentflux]

Just give me a K-5 IIs/K-30 like, rugged mirror-less, where all K-mount lenses still work and I'll be a happy camper.

[cali92rs]

The FA Limiteds would make good candidates to be updated, with QSF, HD coatings, weather sealing (hopefully) and optics able to withstand the most extreme pixel peeping.

What is QSF? Sorry, not familiar with that acronym

[Jean Poitiers]

What is QSF? Sorry, not familiar with that acronym

QuickShift Focusing ... ?