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03-17-2022, 12:24 PM - 1 Like   #31
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QuoteOriginally posted by jersey Quote
Sounds interesting. If Ricoh is able to rework sale lines and have meaningful, even if low cost, presence and marketing it may be a rebirth of Pentax and Ricoh as important parts of market. Not big, by any means, but important and recognizable.


Still, we will see how they approach this. Till now their online presence when it came to cameras was, hmm, substandard. I'm trying to be nice here.
The difficult thing is that online presence relies on people producing content. I don't think any company can rely only on what they produce themselves, even when the budget is considerable. A significant problem is finding people who use Pentax, have the skills to produce content, have the will to do so and have "suitable personalities". The latter is a pretty big hurdle in Pentaxland.

The nicest online stores and advertising won't deliver the reach.

03-17-2022, 07:29 PM - 1 Like   #32
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QuoteOriginally posted by Mistral75 Quote
According to Ricoh's strategy as presented during an investors meeting on the 3rd of March the use of digital communications to connect directly with customers and the workshop approach to production are a global strategy, not an approach limited to Japan.

"Relaunching camera business: Become valuable brand by connecting directly with customers through digital communications and workshop approach to production"

"As we recently announced, we made a fresh start for our camera business by consolidating it within Ricoh Imaging. We will make the brand more valuable by using digital communications to connect directly with customers and by taking a workshop approach to production."

Source: https://www.ricoh.com/-/Media/Ricoh/Sites/com/IR/pdf/presentation_text_2021.pdf page #6.

Note the emphasis put on the J limited initiative in the iconography.
I think the point is that this is a new strategy for Ricoh Imaging overall, but the extent to which the average customer will be aware of it varies by country.

In most countries, the majority of sales are online anyway, so the fact that Ricoh is prioritizing online sales doesn't make much difference. Likewise, the way they organize production is irrelevant as long as customers still get the cameras they order. So from that perspective, Ricoh's clarification that there is no change for other markets makes sense.

The big change is for Japan, because we may see Pentax cameras disappear from some of the stores where we are used to seeing them (Still not clear how many stores will cease to stock Pentax after April 1). The Imaging Square locations are closing. We are getting more invitations to events - already happening. And we may get more customization options, enabled by the new manufacturing style. The changes are going to be more visible in Japan, so they have been announcing the specific changes we will see in this market. But even though it's just Japan, it's by far the biggest market for Pentax, so one way or the other it will be quite significant to their fortunes.

I'm not sure whether the J-Limited image is meant to be significant, or whether it is just a pretty image to decorate the slide. I guess those images give off a "premium" vibe to investors.
03-17-2022, 07:35 PM   #33
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QuoteOriginally posted by house Quote
The nicest online stores and advertising won't deliver the reach.
Which is why nice mentions relating to awards etc are nice.
They do provide "reach".
03-17-2022, 07:56 PM   #34
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QuoteOriginally posted by JPT Quote
I'm not sure whether the J-Limited image is meant to be significant, or whether it is just a pretty image to decorate the slide.
The significance of any element in a published presentation to "investors" may not be apparent to anyone outside of the presenting company, but nothing gets included without careful and detailed analysis by the employees held responsible for the contents of these presentations. In other words, the J-Limited image is not filler, its inclusion is very deliberate. Personally, I don't see the significance either, but several people at Ricoh had to decide that putting an image with a logo and other visual elements that do not immediately stand out as being connected to cameras, directly below a standard image of two models of Pentax cameras, would convey significant meaning to the intended audience. It should also be mentioned that the intended audience for this presentation is definitely not dedicated Pentax customers

03-18-2022, 03:39 AM   #35
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QuoteOriginally posted by house Quote
The difficult thing is that online presence relies on people producing content. I don't think any company can rely only on what they produce themselves, even when the budget is considerable. A significant problem is finding people who use Pentax, have the skills to produce content, have the will to do so and have "suitable personalities". The latter is a pretty big hurdle in Pentaxland.

The nicest online stores and advertising won't deliver the reach.
I know, I sit in the middle of this stuff as IT guy in webshop business You need money to pay for people who know what, where and when to write. Tons of money. Still I think they started to change, most likely cause it is part of global Ricoh strategy to offer digital services. So maybe some of that will trickle down to Ricoh Imagining and Pentax.


I think next few years will be pretty exciting observing how and what they do.

As for people then I think they have already good ones in Japan, recent content on YT is a proof. Just US and European choice is not the best one and that is what we see.
03-18-2022, 04:05 AM   #36
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Where's the piggy bank for the co-creation project? Where should we send the money for the development of the Pentax K1 mark III?
03-18-2022, 11:32 AM   #37
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QuoteOriginally posted by biz-engineer Quote
Where's the piggy bank for the co-creation project? Where should we send the money for the development of the Pentax K1 mark III?
They will tell us at the appropriate time.
In the meantime, save your money and use the camera you do have.

03-19-2022, 04:55 AM   #38
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QuoteOriginally posted by reh321 Quote
They will tell us at the appropriate time.
How much time will it take to get the camera from the time we invest money at the start of the project, to the time we receive the camera?
03-19-2022, 11:01 AM - 3 Likes   #39
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QuoteOriginally posted by biz-engineer Quote
How much time will it take to get the camera from the time we invest money at the start of the project, to the time we receive the camera?
As long as it takes - and not a moment longer!
03-19-2022, 11:53 AM - 1 Like   #40
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QuoteOriginally posted by BigMackCam Quote
As long as it takes - and not a moment longer!
I'd say more and wager that not a moment earlier, either!
04-01-2022, 03:52 AM - 1 Like   #41
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New developments of the web strategy in Japan:
  1. Ricoh Imaging opened an official LINE account for the GR brand in March. Today they also opened an official LINE account for the Pentax brand. It will deliver the latest information on Pentax products as well as announcements from the Ricoh Imaging Store and the official Pentax store.

    PENTAX LINE公式アカウント開設のお知らせ|RICOH IMAGING

    (perhaps Japanese members of Pentax Forums, including @JPT, could be kind enough to tell us more about the LINE social network.)
    ---
  2. A web store selling GR III, GR IIIx and GR-related accessories opened today on Rakuten and PayPay Mall.

    Rakuten: RICOH GRストア楽天市場店
    PayPay Mall: RICOH GRストア - PayPayモール
04-01-2022, 08:56 AM - 1 Like   #42
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^ I guess we'll see how it all pans out for Ricoh from here on out. Hopefully it turns out to be a good move in the long run.
04-07-2022, 08:29 AM   #43
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QuoteOriginally posted by c.a.m Quote
The Ricoh (Canada) Store at Amazon.ca only shows remanufactured toner cartridges. But they are '100% Performance Guaranteed', so there's that. There doesn't appear to be a Ricoh Imaging Canada store at Amazon.

- Craig
Just change .com to .ca.
Amazon.ca: Ricoh Imaging
04-09-2022, 03:29 AM - 2 Likes   #44
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Ricoh Imaging Japan have a new guy in charge of social networking for the Pentax brand since the first of April. His/her (nick)name is OGA.

I wonder why these three-letter nicknames seem to be trendy: TKO, now OGA, and some more.
04-15-2022, 05:05 AM - 9 Likes   #45
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There was a very interesting development today, and one that basically putts rest the idea that Pentax is trying to bump up the prices of their products.

The prices of Pentax gear on the official Ricoh Store have been revised, and they have been revised down. That's right, against a background of other camera manufacturers raising prices, Pentax has reduced them on its site.

I was not keeping track of all the prices to give a before-after comparison, but I do know what happened with the K-3 III.
Before: 249,800 with a 3-year warranty
After: 202,210 yen with a 3-year warranty

It's a significant change and basically makes the Ricoh Store the best place to buy. You can get it slightly cheaper elsewhere, but only with the standard 1-year warranty. This is what Ricoh Imaging was trying to do - avoid the situation where brick-and-mortar retailers were forcing them into selling for an uncompetitive price.

I wouldn't assume that all products have had the same reduction. I think the K-3 III is the most extreme example, but the lenses seem to be cheaper than they were too.

The one catch is that you earn less store points when making a purchase, but the overall effect is a much better deal for the customer.

So a few months ago when I explained the background of the new strategy, I likened this to a Dell-style direct sales method, not a boutique-style Leica approach. I feel today's change pretty much proves this.

The only problem is that they have not announced a move to direct sales in other countries, so there is no logical reason why prices should change elsewhere for now.
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