Well here in Singapore, Pentax was previously under the distributorship of two different trading companies.
Both did a mediocre job in promoting the brand, adopting a low volume high margin approach that meant you couldn't find Pentax stuff freely available in the many photo shops we have here.
Many bought their Pentax gear overseas because it was so hard to get the local agent to keep stock.
Well that has changed dramatically late last year with the new distributor
Emjay. Prices in the shops are as good as or even better than online merchants and there is a pretty wide availability of lenses in the shops. The recent prices for the K-7 and K-x has dramatically increased the number of Pentax new users at our monthly Pentax photo outings, which is a fantastic achievement. We got so many newbies who opted for the K-x instead of Nikons and Canons, something that would have been unheard off in the past.
The local distributor obviously can't compete with Canon, Nikon, Sony or Olympus in terms of marketing dollars but they have done a stellar job in building brand awareness and selling more Pentax cameras here in Singapore, a no easy feat considering the high shop rentals and business costs and the 7% GST. My conclusion is everything depends on how committed the local distributor is and whether they have a coherent marketing plan in place to grow the Pentax brand. The Pentax community in Singapore is really excited with the new changes. Kudos to Emjay!
Proof of the new resurgence of new Pentax users in Singapore:
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/870890-post8.html https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/885462-post9.html https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/920165-post12.html
Last edited by creampuff; 02-14-2010 at 07:59 PM.