Originally posted by roberrl My local Pentax dealer has just told me that FF has been cancelled due to low sales forecasts.
He's been a reasonably reliable source in the past.
Please don't shoot the messenger, I'm simply reporting what I've been told.
So what if this is True. .........?
It is not totally impossible that the new K-1 doesn't sell in big numbers or that Ricoh Japan has no idea how many they actually could sell (maybe more then they think).
How does that work? I live in The Netherlands, wich is a relatie rich country, being number 7 on the list of income per capita
https://nl.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lijst_van_landen_naar_bbp_per_hoofd_van_de_bevolking And still having a sales market for Pentax.
Stores overhere are lowering in numbers over the past 10 years where large internet shops took over and mass sales is done by Media Markt that doesn't carry Pentax. Stores are members of a Central buying system. So Ricoh Tokyo makes a call to Ricoh Europe in Paris to see how this would work...... Paris calls the Dutch representative for Pentax to go and see how sales are to be expected. Stores don't have much stock anymore and they don't need it. You just push in an order during daytime if you run out of something and have it delivered the next day. For stuff that sells good you take stock and for thing like Pentax you take one item in stock or non at all. So the phone rings and positive response is coming in very soon. It looks great! Almost all major stores will take the K-1 in stock and so the Central buyers combination makes a decision and says........
We take 50 of those nice new camera's!. A call is made to Paris and that goes back to Tokyo. Panic is in the Ricoh Offices in Tokyo......Since The Netherlands are only taking 50 camera's! We Are talking about the 7th richest country in the World with 17 million citizens. They have staf meetings....The K-1 is almost like finished. Call back to Paris, see if a major sales push can change that number. Oh yes, the K-1 will come in a nice box and twelve of them fit in the larger to be shipped box. Paris is calling Holland and tells him to make a good push in sales to see if everyone is really reached with the first round of sales. He does his job very good and calls around for two days. Steps in his car and visits some of the premium stores. Everyone is still very excited! He is happy! A Job well done. Makes a call to the Central buyers organisation and tells them about the big box that ships the camera's. Okay.......We see your point on our first order. Well no problem sir........
We change our order in conveniënce for Ricoh Imaging and order 4 boxes, in total 48 K-1 camera's!.
Then they call Tokyo.........major sales push in The Netherlands changed the sales from K-1 down with 4 % to 48 units!
Then something Happens in Tokyo. They are about to get married, but get the Jibbers, ending up like the Runaway Bride. You really want to, but you are afraid of the big step. In the USA the Ricoh people really are afraid that this would be the end of all times. So they take the big step and just put the Ķ-1 on display in New York! That will bring back the people from Tokyo back to us!
Last edited by RonHendriks1966; 11-08-2015 at 10:45 AM.