[6BQ5]

Is it just me or are the holiday sales this time of year not as delicious and tempting as in years past? While everyone from Sony to Fuji to Nikon to Canon to Panasonic to Olympus are cutting prices the Pentax line up seems to be holding at steady prices. Does Ricoh feel that they don't need to win through pricing alone? I'm not suggesting that they are starting to lean toward premium positioning here. It seems like Ricoh finally found their groove with Pentax when considering the value proposition as a whole : price + features + performance all add up to a good value.

If that's the case then I'm thrilled! That means Pentax is not doomed. Not even close. They are thriving and growing relative to their position. Hopefully they never find themselves trying to win by price alone. I think the big boys are doing just that and that's a race to the bottom. It seems like they can't even give their cameras away for free.

I'm thinking of the Olympus E-M1 mk II. It was released at a price of $1999. I've seen it dip down to $1699 and even $1499. The K-1 came out at $1799 and has barely budged ... and upward at that! What are we at now officially? $1899? That's spectacular!

I think lenses have come down in price a bit but I don't think that's anything special. They feel like they've been slowly sliding downward for a few months.

Thoughts? Is Pentax finally thriving here?

[Digitalis]

I'm thinking of the Olympus E-M1 mk II. It was released at a price of $1999. I've seen it dip down to $1699 and even $1499. The K-1 came out at $1799 and has barely budged ... and upward at that! What are we at now officially? $1899? That's spectacular!

I Honestly can't recall the last time I saw a Sigma DSLR* in a store. I'm happy as long as we are doing better in camera sales than Sigma. Too bad they haven't been making their more recent lenses for K mount but sooner or latter that is going to to really hurt them..along with all the other third party makers that refuse to join the party. Pentax lens prices have been holding steady, the FA limited lenses are selling at slightly higher prices than they were initially. Many second hand and hard to find FA* lenses have been going up in price.

*or any of their other cameras. I'm seen and handled a Lytro Light field camera once.

[Adam]

This definitely seems to be the case, even though a lot of lenses are at the year's lowest prices, the relative discounts are not that big. I think Ricoh has realized that Pentax already delivers excellent value, and isn't crippling itself through unnecessary price cuts.

[RobA_Oz]

I've noticed many of the bigger stores and chains in Australia have been carrying significant discounts of all three major camera makers, Nikon, Canon and Sony, for some time. The smaller makers, Olympus, Fuji and Panasonic, are occasionally offered on discount, but not so much or often as the others. On the other hand, we have been seeing the main Pentax distributor here offering significant discounts lately, too, so I wonder if this is a local decision, if counterparts elsewhere are not doing the same.

[PJ1]

Camera House has 64 stores in Australia (they operate as a franchise I think). Their free catalogue is very substantial (226 glossy pages) with lots of ads as well as gear. Not a single Pentax camera in the catalogue although the lenses are all listed. But The number of full page ads that different camera brands had is interesting: Canon (3); Fujifilm (2); Nikon (10); Olympus (3); Panasonic (4); Sony (3); Sigma (lenses) (1). There were full page ads by Promaster, Lowepro etc as well. No Pentax, no Ricoh. (Yes, this thread made me gather the stats - sad isn't it.)


I dropped into the Toowoomba store last week to buy a small camera bag and had a look around. All the main brands of camera were on the shelf with the exception of Pentax. When I was asked what interested me (I must have looked like I had half a clue) I said I was just seeing what they had because I shot Pentax. Anyway, they gave me the catalogue.


I know I could get a Pentax body through them on order and I know that some other Camera House stores carry Pentax, but I can't help thinking there might be a charge for shelf space and that might influence the choices that CR Kennedy make..

[mee]

Is it just me or are the holiday sales this time of year not as delicious and tempting as in years past? While everyone from Sony to Fuji to Nikon to Canon to Panasonic to Olympus are cutting prices the Pentax line up seems to be holding at steady prices. Does Ricoh feel that they don't need to win through pricing alone? I'm not suggesting that they are starting to lean toward premium positioning here. It seems like Ricoh finally found their groove with Pentax when considering the value proposition as a whole : price + features + performance all add up to a good value.

If that's the case then I'm thrilled! That means Pentax is not doomed. Not even close. They are thriving and growing relative to their position. Hopefully they never find themselves trying to win by price alone. I think the big boys are doing just that and that's a race to the bottom. It seems like they can't even give their cameras away for free.

I'm thinking of the Olympus E-M1 mk II. It was released at a price of $1999. I've seen it dip down to $1699 and even $1499. The K-1 came out at $1799 and has barely budged ... and upward at that! What are we at now officially? $1899? That's spectacular!

I think lenses have come down in price a bit but I don't think that's anything special. They feel like they've been slowly sliding downward for a few months.

Thoughts? Is Pentax finally thriving here?

If you know of a retailer that is legally giving away Olympus E-M1 mark II bodies for free, please let me know immediately!

The new model for the past couple of years with Pentax seems to be bundling during sales/promotions. So we see the price went up to 1900 dollars but they throw in the OEM grip into the fray. They could have just cut the price by 100 dollars (which is the difference in cost to customer with the bundled grip), but the grip doesn't cost them 200 to make so they make the offer look sweeter and it is no skin off their back. It is shrewd business.

Basically, I think Pentax doesn't have the numbers to make straight price cuts work for them. Canon and Nikon can do that since the userbase is dramatically larger.

[Billk]

Whichever direction it is coming from (distributor or retailers), the difficulty in getting Pentax cameras in your hands in stores is damaging sales. I strongly prefer buying from a shop where I know the staff and also prefer buying cameras and lenses I have tried in store. So far as I am aware, there are only two camera shops in the Melbourne CBD that have any Pentax products in store.

If more people could try the current generation Pentax DSLRs in store, fewer would be buying Canikon.

[LensBeginner]

If you know of a retailer that is legally giving away Olympus E-M1 mark II bodies for free, please let me know immediately!

The new model for the past couple of years with Pentax seems to be bundling during sales/promotions. So we see the price went up to 1900 dollars but they throw in the OEM grip into the fray. They could have just cut the price by 100 dollars (which is the difference in cost to customer with the bundled grip), but the grip doesn't cost them 200 to make so they make the offer look sweeter and it is no skin off their back. It is shrewd business.

Basically, I think Pentax doesn't have the numbers to make straight price cuts work for them. Canon and Nikon can do that since the userbase is dramatically larger.

Exactly what I was thinking.
In a shrinking market, with no new models (except for one that sold very poorly) and a decrease in volumes which could easily be more marked than the competitor's, they just don't have the option to lower prices.

[Digitalis]

that might influence the choices that CR Kennedy make

CRK have been pulling some pretty scummy tactics lately. They sell the Pentax K bodies at lower prices than the main stores in Australia because they don't have to hire retail staff,rent store space, etc. I haven't been happy with CRK since I bought that misaligned Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 ART lens - in the end: CRK paid, in full, for the optical realignment I had done to it. Getting Sigma Japan on my side certainly helped - but then again, it isn't the first time they have become involved when I found one of their products wasn't performing up to standards.

[jddwoods]

The price drop on the DA* 300 was enough for me to jump on it. I can't wait to try it out with the 1.4X TC. I hope this will be a good combination. A 420mm f5.6 lens would be real nice setup for bird and wildlife photography.

[Kozlok]

I was hoping for a big discount on the 16-85 (which I don’t really need). Price is rock steady around $530 for quite some time.

[Leumas]

GOOOOO Pentax! That is all.

[RGlasel]

No Pentax, no Ricoh.

I know I could get a Pentax body through them on order and I know that some other Camera House stores carry Pentax, but I can't help thinking there might be a charge for shelf space and that might influence the choices that CR Kennedy make..

CR Kennedy is both a distributor and retailer of Pentax products in Australia? Every market is uniquely different from every other market (call me Yogi), but without inventory there won't be co-op advertising money from Ricoh and there is a very poor ROI for advertising special order items. Other possible reasons are incentives to move out inventory before the end of the year, probably to make room for pre-ordering new products in the first quarter of 2018 (when cash flow is the worst), or even to hit sales targets in order to get year end rebates. None of the reasons I can think of apply to product lines that don't represent most of the retailer's capital tied up in inventory. I saw much the same here in a flyer from Don's Photo, same brands, same type of promotions. I don't think it is a coincidence. Online, Don's will offer discounts on Pentax products they have inventory of, but nothing in a medium where it costs money to advertise.

[Rondec]

Nikon is the company in trouble at this point. They are trying to clear old stock to have a fresh start, but it isn't clear if they have an understanding of what works going forward in this declining market.

Ricoh has decided on a smaller line up that doesn't target every price point, but makes a profit at each point. I suppose it is a blessing that the days are gone when Pentax releases a K5 at 1600 dollars and then early adopters see the price drop to 900 or a little less over the following year. That sort of pricing scheme definitely encourages most folks to wait till the end of a product's life to buy. That means that pricing is reasonable from the get go. Unfortunately it also means that there aren't going to be any 30 percent off sales either.

[sbh]

Regarding positioning, at Photokina I had a chat with them and asked what they are aiming for in future. He clearly said they want to position themselves in the high quality segment in the area of Phase One. KP image quality seems to support this direction. But software wise it‘s a long way. Imho software is getting more and more important.