[mithrandir]

I've just seen this news and didn't see it mentioned here, the UK's biggest photographic retailer is no longer to stock Pentax, one less place to buy now! Can't believe how little marketing and puting the product out there Pentax doesn't do.

Jessops drops Pentax cameras news - Amateur Photographer - news, camera reviews, lens reviews, camera equipment guides, photography courses, competitions, photography forums

Caught this article in Amateur Photography about Jessops' recent decision to drop the Pentax line of DSLRs:

Jessops confident will survive 'tough' year news - Amateur Photographer - news, camera reviews, lens reviews, camera equipment guides, photography courses, competitions, photography forums




Moderator Action: Threads merged due to duplicate topic. Thread starter posts also merged.

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Last edited by Damn Brit; 01-26-2009 at 08:08 PM. Reason: Duplicate

[abraham_love]

Jessops isn't somewhere I'd usually shop anyway - prices there can be ridiculous, but like you say - if the high street's major dedicated camera retailer doesn't stock Pentax, then that is not good. that said - there could be some good deals on old stock ;-)

[StephenG]

oh hell - now THAT does not sound very promising.. for either Pentax or Jessops..

i think this is the first tangible sign of things not going to well.. and to me at least.. it is a bit of cause for concern...


could the fat lady really be warming up her vocal chords for the final pentax dslr farewell.??

[Billgscott]

The rumor before was that they would get into bed with Cannon. Last time I was in York only Cannon were in the windows with a few ollies inside.

The only independant in York, York camera mart also seem to have stopped selling Pentax /Samsung as well.

I note though, the artical said Pentax BRANDED cameras. Does that mean that Samsung DSLRs will be stocked?

[Mike.P®]

Probably just Pentax refusing to pay Jessops for having product in their store.
Didn't they drop Samsung a while back as well?

[ixian]

I've never seen any Pentax products in their shops anyway...
So now it's kinda official - what difference will it make?

[MRRiley]

I suggest all the UK Pentaxians write Jessops a polite letter to tell them they will be taking their business elsewhere... and explain why...

[ryan s]

I know and realize this guy is in charge of making profits (it's a business)...or should I say...minimizing losses? 50M in debt...wow

He dropped legendary Pentax because "...this time round the products were not the most compelling offer in terms of functionality and price." Ummm, pretty sure my camera does the same things a 40D or D80 can. Also pretty sure I paid a lot less for mine.

His quote should have been "Pentax sells their items for a cheaper MSRP than Canikonysonicpus so they weren't as willing to get on their knees to sell us their stuff cheap in order to maximize our profit margin."

Good riddance, I say. There's more to business than profit and upholding brand image therein.

[cpopham]

It's pretty obvious what happened - Jessops doesn't buy enough Pentax gear to qualify for the type of price they thought Pentax should give them.

Additionally, I would imagine very few of the UK members actually shop there in the first place - the prices just aren't that good. I actually did buy my K100 Super from a Jessop's while I was in London on business, and it was a bit of a mission to convince the salesperson I didn't want a Sony...

I recall a thread on dpreview, where some of the posters noted a dramatic increase in the area used to display Sony products in Jessops.... hrmm....

[ryan s]

Going by the attitude of the chairman...I don't doubt that for a second...

A camera store isn't a camera store to me if it doesn't carry all brands. Jessops could be shooting themselves badly in the foot by doing this.
If nothing else, it's publicity for Pentax, some people are going to wonder why and research Pentax, some of them will probably buy Pentax as a result.

[joele]

I recall a thread on dpreview, where some of the posters noted a dramatic increase in the area used to display Sony products in Jessops.... hrmm....

Is it true that Sony pay stores for shelf space? if they are struggling and its true then I guess it makes sense to take that offer... Although to be honest even though I see a lot of Sony gear in stores here too (Australia) I am still yet to see anyone using one in the street (though I saw a couple of KonikaMinolta 7d users on my recent holiday)...

Roentarre and I went to photograph fireworks last night (pathetic show in the end, a lot of angry photographers), I saw heaps of DSLRs, a couple of Pentax, one Olympus, a fair few Canon and Nikon but absolutely no Sony...

[Blue]

Dropping it based on price and functionality is kind of an ironic statement.

[Blue]

A camera store isn't a camera store to me if it doesn't carry all brands. Jessops could be shooting themselves badly in the foot by doing this.
If nothing else, it's publicity for Pentax, some people are going to wonder why and research Pentax, some of them will probably buy Pentax as a result.

The excuse of price and usefulness was the ironic part of them dropping Pentax. The K20d and k200d are a couple of the most useful dLSR out there at an affordable price point. The dropped it just in time to miss the white K-m as well.

[cpopham]

Is it true that Sony pay stores for shelf space? if they are struggling and its true then I guess it makes sense to take that offer... Although to be honest even though I see a lot of Sony gear in stores here too (Australia) I am still yet to see anyone using one in the street (though I saw a couple of KonikaMinolta 7d users on my recent holiday)...

Certainly the implication from the dpreview posters was that Sony is paying Jessops for the space - indeed, there was earlier speculation that a partnership with an SLR maker could save the chain.

Last time I was in Sydney (just before christmas), I was in a mall camera shop (in Paramatta in case you're wondering) and I overheard a salesperson explaining to a shopper they had no Sony cameras because their account was cancelled due to them not selling enough.

In contrast, they had the bottom part of the Pentax range (e.g. K200 + kit gear), and were suggesting it to a customer as a good value option.