Happy to pay more in a store then online.

[ktoopi]

I have never bought local.....I do my research and generally find I know more than the store lackeys anyway.....When I first got my 7D a few years ago I purchased a lens for about $900 to go with it from the same online store and saw the same lens a couple of weeks later in my local camera store for $2500!!!!!!! I don't know how they justify that kind of price hike! All my gear generally comes from HK via courier or USA as I have a friend who is an air hostie who carries stuff back for me when she flies to the USA Unfortunately I rarely experience adequate customer service in real stores so for me there is no point when everything is cheaper elsewhere.

[extraball]

just did an exercise in this today. Found a good deal on a lens I am interested in, online seller, sent them an email about stock, and delivery cost. Within a few hours quoted, its in stock, but 49 dollars delivery. Mind-you, even with the delivery charge, this is a significant saving compared to a retail outlet. Infact a "normal store" would price me out of owning this bit of gear, denying my chance to enjoy my hobby a little more.

[Xenedis]

just did an exercise in this today. Found a good deal on a lens I am interested in, online seller, sent them an email about stock, and delivery cost. Within a few hours quoted, its in stock, but 49 dollars delivery. Mind-you, even with the delivery charge, this is a significant saving compared to a retail outlet. Infact a "normal store" would price me out of owning this bit of gear, denying my chance to enjoy my hobby a little more.

What's the cost of the item from your supplier, and also retail?

I bet the price you're paying is lower than what a B&M retailer pays to manufacturer's official distributor.

[extraball]

What's the cost of the item from your supplier, and also retail?

I bet the price you're paying is lower than what a B&M retailer pays to manufacturer's official distributor.

549 retail (I can drive 15ks to the shop). Online with delivery 379. Anything over 400 is beyond my means. Actually, I am asking the retail outlet for a price-match (dont have high hopes though).

[Xenedis]

549 retail (I can drive 15ks to the shop). Online with delivery 379. Anything over 400 is beyond my means. Actually, I am asking the retail outlet for a price-match (dont have high hopes though).

If the lens retails for $549, I doubt the retailer can come close to $379.

You can always ask the question, but that's a 30% difference and it's extremely unlikely the retailer can match it.

[extraball]

If the lens retails for $549, I doubt the retailer can come close to $379.

You can always ask the question, but that's a 30% difference and it's extremely unlikely the retailer can match it.

correct, they wouldn't match, but reduced theirs to 499.00

[fess67]

I think this is all a testement to a sad fact of the modern world we live in. People (for the most part) want the cheapest price they can get. Nothing wrong in that, as I say it is the modern way but all too often the traditional bricks and mortar guys cannot compete and it is not because they don't want to , they simply cannot. The overheads of running a business mean they cannot match the online price (GST is a good example) but other factors play a part. Modern society likes it cheap and is comfortable with a global economy - fact.

[bladesp2]

update I emailed a large store in Melbourne and sent them the link to a lens I would like to purchase, and as I had stated I hadn't received a response .well yesterday an email arrives with an offer to do it for $650.00 they explained that was the same as the on line stores price with postage added.So it seems they can do better than $990.00.So I will buy it from them .and they don't markup their prices much !!.

[Xenedis]

I think this is all a testement to a sad fact of the modern world we live in. People (for the most part) want the cheapest price they can get. Nothing wrong in that, as I say it is the modern way but all too often the traditional bricks and mortar guys cannot compete and it is not because they don't want to , they simply cannot. The overheads of running a business mean they cannot match the online price (GST is a good example) but other factors play a part. Modern society likes it cheap and is comfortable with a global economy - fact.

The proliferation of the Internet over the past decade in particular has fundamentally changed commerce.

Look at what's happened to music stores (as in recorded music, not instruments) and bookstores. They're living on borrowed time.

If the business model is not sustainable, the business owner needs to adapt it or change tack in favour of something less dynamic and susceptible to Internet-driven pressure.

The consumer has the upper hand these days. Consumers can get what they want almost anywhere in the world, more cheaply than from an Australian B&M store.

[ricktas]

update I emailed a large store in Melbourne and sent them the link to a lens I would like to purchase, and as I had stated I hadn't received a response .well yesterday an email arrives with an offer to do it for $650.00 they explained that was the same as the on line stores price with postage added.So it seems they can do better than $990.00.So I will buy it from them .and they don't markup their prices much !!.

Depending on the lens. Certainly if you look at a Sigma lens, the authorised seller can contact the distributor and seek to sell you the lens at a price match. The retailer is then given a 'cash-back' from the distributor to help with the price matching. So it may not be as you put it about markup, but rather the retailer sought from the distributor a way to match the price.

http://www.crkennedy.com.au/v1/index...5&pageRef=179& (see the last paragraph)

This would also be why an email took a while to respond to, as the retailer would need to contact crkennedy first, and get approval, before giving you a price.

It is not just the retailer, there could be more to it than that, so blaming the retailer for markup could be completely without justification.

[bladesp2]

Depending on the lens. Certainly if you look at a Sigma lens, the authorised seller can contact the distributor and seek to sell you the lens at a price match. The retailer is then given a 'cash-back' from the distributor to help with the price matching. So it may not be as you put it about markup, but rather the retailer sought from the distributor a way to match the price.

http://www.crkennedy.com.au/v1/index...5&pageRef=179& (see the last paragraph)

This would also be why an email took a while to respond to, as the retailer would need to contact crkennedy first, and get approval, before giving you a price.

It is not just the retailer, there could be more to it than that, so blaming the retailer for markup could be completely without justification.

Either way its a good deal as far as i'm concerned .If as you say they are price matching at the suppliers expense then this is a win win for both parties .There should be more of it .

[norwest]

How much of the problem of shop front retailers not being able to compete with net prices can be attributed to appreciable variances in world regional price setting of the manufacturers?

[AVALANCHE]

Originally Posted by bladesp2 It seems that if they lowered their prices they might sell more volume and make more money, but it seems like the bricks and mortar stores wait for a sucker to arrive and then fleece him for all he/she is worth IE: extended warranty ,SD card etc ect.......

I don't want you to feel like I am picking on you, however that is poor business sense. It is no good lowering margin to sell $1,000,000 worth of camera gear if the cost price is $999,999 to the retail operator. If you get what I am saying here...

As for me personally...

I have been in liquor retail for the past ten years, eight of those years being in store and operations management. I am 27, and have grown up with easily accessible internet...which my parents got back in 1998. With that, you notice some changes.

In my opinion and without rabbling on too much about the topic...thinking locally about retail business is out-dated and the need for thinking about a global customer is paramount. For any retail business to survive, they need to look at their model of receiving goods into their store...which is generally (but not always)...

Supplier > Importer > Wholesaler/Distributor > Freight > Retail

So as you can see without putting any figures up...you can imagine the costs add up to become a great mark up for margin before it even hits shelvesas everyone involved wants their cut. This is simply not acceptable anymore I think! It is sometimes unavoidable though.

Online is generally...

Supplier (with cost of freight inc.) > Warehouse.

As you can see, the costs are much lower...so these savings are passed onto the consumer generally.

Moving to a similar model is of benefit for both the retailer and consumer, that is, working more closely with suppliers. I do it all the time at work!!

The benefit of being in a store of course is you get to try the product out...the drawback is of course, the service that just isn't happening out there these days. I will go into a store many times and have no one approach me at all, at best! I think what has happened is employees are complacent about their role, their pay and therefore don't care about providing service because either,

a) No matter how much work they put in, they will only get the same pay, so therefore will do minimal what is required of them as they feel the extra work is of no benefit to them as it is not their business.
b) Have received in-effective or no training on product knowledge, and therefore do not have the confidence to sell it even if they wanted to talk about it.

I feel if point b) was practiced with vigor then (as I have proven time and time again) point a) becomes obselete as the employee gains enthusiasm and interest in what they are selling, which is then projected to the customer...which means $$$. Good sales is about relieving the customer of pain, so no way is add-on selling (offering flash cards for sale etc) a rip off if it is going to add value to the customers eyes...this needs to be done with sincerity by the employee though...they are not a shady used car salesman (no offence if any of you are )!

So...retail is still relevant. I can still recall when I received good service that I paid for it knowing I could of gotten it somewhere cheaper...

[simonr23]

i try to buy local where it's not a silly price difference(40%+) i work in retial myself, so i practice what i preach. i bought a little robot vac the other week online though. no local shops stocked the one i wanted yet!
and to balance it, i bought a nikon micro lens yesterday local. price ended up around the halfway mark of grey vs local rrp.

[Bear Dale]

For those who are like me and live in rural areas, online purchasing is a part of life.

[ricktas]

Remember that online purchasing does not have to mean purchasing from OS. There are some great Australian companies that have online presences that can give you good deals as well. Like Jim, not really rural, but Hobart is a small city compared to some of the others in Aus, and I often find things online from the Syd/Melb retailers cheaper by a long way, than I can buy them locally here in Hobart.

[Bear Dale]

As Rick mentioned, online shopping doesn't always have to mean overseas. I have been using fotofriends in Broadway (Sydney) for sometime now for Canon lenses and they are very close to OS prices. It's a 7-8 hour return drive for me to go to Sydney and nearly always relied on express mail for a new lens unless I was in Sydney for some other reason.

We did have a 1 hour independant photolab that had been in town for over 20 years, they even road out the incredible hit to their business when Coles finally came to our town and had a minilab. They actually outlasted the Coles lab, but have now also closed their doors and it was because of online printing. They used to charge $14.00 for an A4 print and dropped down to $12.00 in their last 6 months, but that is just way more than online printing or home printing. Their prices where the main reason that I invested in a good A4 photo printer.

After being linked in another thread to RGB who are online printers and seeing their prices, I'm amazed that my local printer lasted so long.

The internet has caused a massive upheaval in people 'knowledge' of prices and how much more they have been paying and for how long. But it's coming at a massive cost to family business's, our local pro dive shop is suffering loss or sales as is our fishing tackle shop. People are just buying gear online, it's just not photograhy, it's across all purchases.

[Xenedis]

The internet has caused a massive upheaval in people 'knowledge' of prices and how much more they have been paying and for how long. But it's coming at a massive cost to family business's, our local pro dive shop is suffering loss or sales as is our fishing tackle shop. People are just buying gear online, it's just not photograhy, it's across all purchases.

Indeed, and as I asserted earlier in this thread, retail businesses either need to adapt their business model to suit how the market is operating, or seek greener pastures.

[Wayne]

Online shopping is not only for saving $, although I think it is the primary reason for those who utilise online resellers, it offers variety and convenience.
For a number of years until Sept 2012 I lived in Mount Isa, far NW QLD. It is among the most remote populated and developed towns in Australia and the local retailers knew it. They have a small Harvey Norman, who stocked what they wanted, and charged a serious premium. Many locals would simply shop via phone through the same Townsville based chains, and get things at huge discounts even after a few $ shipping.

Living in remote places means getting raped on price, dictated to regarding variety and availability of items you can purchase, and often no way of seeing things in the flesh before purchase. What is to like about that experience??
I can tell you that buying what you want elsewhere, usually online at a huge saving is what there is to like!

If local businesses can't compete, adapt, close up shop or fail, because the global shopping mall isn't going anywhere but on to become bigger and better for consumers.