Canon Australia updates RRP

[KeeFy]

http://www.canon.com.au/en-au/About-...ention-locally

Looks like they are finally waking up a little and attempting to battle the grey import prices. I've not looked at the new prices yet but hopefully it'll be competitive enough to buy locally. I would rather spend my dough here with a local warrany rather than overseas should the price disparity be minimal.

Enjoy!

[accesser]

About time ! I heard one of the grey market importers in Brisbane closed not so long ago this could lead to more

[agb]

About time ! I heard one of the grey market importers in Brisbane closed not so long ago this could lead to more

If you are referring to D-D photographics they are still alive and well and living in Sydney though, it is just the Brisbane store that closed. They said, for what it is worth, that they have a new delivery arrangement and that as a result they can do it all from Sydney instead of having the two stores.

[Bennymiata]

Canon are just passing on the better A$, which should have been done months ago anyway.
Those prices are still around 1/3rd higher than grey marketeers.

eg. The Canon 550D super kit they now quote at $1449.00 can be bought grey for just $993.00 or even less.

Instead of spending $15M on advertising, they should use that money to reduce their prices to make them more competitive.

After all, Sigma do it, and the new 150mm Macro lens I bought from DCW was less than 10% dearer than buying it grey.

These days, everything is world market price, and if you are charging a lot more for a product here than it is easily available from another country, you will lose lots of local sales.
People are now too savvy to fall for overinflated local pricing, especially on technology.

[ameerat42]

Apologies for intruding a related matter in your thread, but the news has been replete with retailers lamenting the downturn in personal shopping as opposed to on-line shopping. Some have advocated a GST on items less that $1000 that are bought on-line.

It riles me to hear such "solutions" when the most obvious one is ignored: DROP YOUR PRICES!

h(Um)ph!

[JM Tran]

Those prices are getting a bit better, but still too expensive IMO

would like to see more price drops in more products, not just those ones listed

[fess67]

It riles me to hear such "solutions" when the most obvious one is ignored: DROP YOUR PRICES!

h(Um)ph!

That is easily done if we assume the price difference is in cost of goods and the Aussie retailer is living it up on large profit margins. However, overheads such as retail rents, staff wages and taxes are not equal in all countries and this enables retail prices to vary.

So, the solution is simple, lower staff wages to the equivalent of those in China or Hong Kong, abolish the GST and lower the rent. Now they can sell it to us at 'grey' rates. Not sure I want to reduce my income or those of other Aussies and I am pretty certain the Government might miss all that tax!

[peterb666]

That is easily done if we assume the price difference is in cost of goods and the Aussie retailer is living it up on large profit margins. However, overheads such as retail rents, staff wages and taxes are not equal in all countries and this enables retail prices to vary.

So, the solution is simple, lower staff wages to the equivalent of those in China or Hong Kong, abolish the GST and lower the rent. Now they can sell it to us at 'grey' rates. Not sure I want to reduce my income or those of other Aussies and I am pretty certain the Government might miss all that tax!

What a load of rubbish. If someone can explain to me why most things in Australia are stupidly more expensive than elsewhere (even the US which has relatively high costs) do so. For example, Adobe Photoshop CS5, Australia $1699 rrp or $1629 by electronic delivery over the internet. US - USD $699. Please, how do you justify electronic delivery of software, most likely from an overseas server that is around 150% higher than the retail box price in the US.

I am waiting...

As far a camera gear is concerned, some show that Australian prices can be competitive. For example, Voigtlander products are amongst the cheapest in the world in Australia and recent Olympus pricing in Australia, e.g. with the latest PEN series is very competitive indeed.

[Scotty72]

Retail space rental is way over the odds in Oz.

I think it is a bit of a myth to blame it of retail labour staff - who get paid crap wages. Some of my students report pay of < $10 hour. Not a lot in the context of running a shop.

[fess67]

Retail space rental is way over the odds in Oz.

I think it is a bit of a myth to blame it of retail labour staff - who get paid crap wages. Some of my students report pay of < $10 hour. Not a lot in the context of running a shop.

True...in a way. I have just closed a retail outlet. Staff costs were 30%. Rent was 30% (inc gas, elec, etc), GST 10%, Franchise costs 10%, cost of goods 30%.

Add that up....30 + 30 + 10 + 10 +30....110. YEP 110% - and that is with me working 80 hours a week for no income. Now, tell me the way to make it all work is to lower the price of my product!!!

Fact is, in order to survive I tried to reduce costs.....got rid of good staff and employed kids at $8 an hour...criminal but the law says that is their rate of pay....still not enough...raise prices........hmmm yeah that works..............OH NO, now I actually have people abusing my staff (under 16 since thay are the cheap labour) because they feel the product is too expensive!!!

"screw you I can get it online for less!"

Damn....what do I do now, I already have a 10% loss.... OH..I GET IT!!!! DROP MY PRICE!!! that means I can sell more product (at a loss) and dig myself a bigger hole.....INSPIRED!!!!

/rant.

Sorry. just got out of a retail situation losing me money hand over fist and tired of 'customers' telling me how it can work.

<for those that do not understand some of the pressures Aussie outlets face...my shop was smaller than most family rooms.......I paid $10,0000 a month for that> YEP, a month. now come tell me to my face I should drop my prices....for what? So you can get your product but I earn nothing, my staff get paid jack and we all work our butts off!!>

Lol guess my rant was not done.

Seriously guys, if you want to see it from a retailers side give me a call. I am all for consumer freedom but look at the impact to our way of life.

/rant / rant /rant......<breathes deep> ok...emotion gone...breath...breath....breath...ahhhhhhhhhh.....

Grrrrrrrr..........

[zollo]

True...in a way. I have just closed a retail outlet. Staff costs were 30%. Rent was 30% (inc gas, elec, etc), GST 10%, Franchise costs 10%, cost of goods 30%.

Add that up....30 + 30 + 10 + 10 +30....110. YEP 110% - and that is with me working 80 hours a week for no income. Now, tell me the way to make it all work is to lower the price of my product!!!

Fact is, in order to survive I tried to reduce costs.....got rid of good staff and employed kids at $8 an hour...criminal but the law says that is their rate of pay....still not enough...raise prices........hmmm yeah that works..............OH NO, now I actually have people abusing my staff (under 16 since thay are the cheap labour) because they feel the product is too expensive!!!

"screw you I can get it online for less!"

Damn....what do I do now, I already have a 10% loss.... OH..I GET IT!!!! DROP MY PRICE!!! that means I can sell more product (at a loss) and dig myself a bigger hole.....INSPIRED!!!!

/rant.

Sorry. just got out of a retail situation losing me money hand over fist and tired of 'customers' telling me how it can work.

<for those that do not understand some of the pressures Aussie outlets face...my shop was smaller than most family rooms.......I paid $10,0000 a month for that> YEP, a month. now come tell me to my face I should drop my prices....for what? So you can get your product but I earn nothing, my staff get paid jack and we all work our butts off!!>

Lol guess my rant was not done.

Seriously guys, if you want to see it from a retailers side give me a call. I am all for consumer freedom but look at the impact to our way of life.

/rant / rant /rant......<breathes deep> ok...emotion gone...breath...breath....breath...ahhhhhhhhhh.....

Grrrrrrrr..........

not to tell you how to run your business, but did you ever think that whatever you were running out of a living room sized space @ 10,000 a month was not a very viable option?

[fess67]

not to tell you how to run your business, but did you ever think that whatever you were running out of a living room sized space @ 10,000 a month was not a very viable option?

No not really. Next time you go to a shopping centre food court have a look at the size of the premises. Most are pretty small. It was not viable for my business and of the other 11 stores there, 3 have closed and the others are suffering with tales of lost homes, divorces, bankruptcies etc. Just one of lifes learning opportunities I guess.

[GTP 290]

I'm not sure if it would be considered to be a grey market item but I've recently seen (on ebay) a canon 7d body only kit for about $900 less than the canon RRP. This is from an australian seller located in melbourne that is offering full 3 year australian canon warranty. So how would this seller be capable of offering such a cheap price? and how is it that canon doesn't also offer similar prices?

[Scotty72]

Are you sure the warranty is actually from Canon?

[GTP 290]

I'm not sure what the difference is, but the ad states "genuine canon 3 year factory warranty"

[I @ M]

I'm not sure what the difference is, but the ad states "genuine canon 3 year factory warranty"

Maybe they haven't updated their website but going by this one they only offer a 1 year warranty on cameras and kits.

I would hazard a guess that the seller is simply a grey market middleman like so many others trying to "appear" as if they are offering local stock.

[GTP 290]

I would hazard a guess that the seller is simply a grey market middleman like so many others trying to "appear" as if they are offering local stock.

It wouldn't surprise me at all if this is the case. Still damn tempting to take the ad down to hardley normal and make them honour it. Our local shop will only honour offers if the seller is within australia.

[GTP 290]

Ok gotta make a correction here, the original ad I saw is now gone (austion ended) the price was $1450 + $34 postage. However the ad's I'm looking at from australian sellers are still around $800 cheaper than the canon RRP.

[Tannin]

Prices are changing rapidly just at the moment as the grossly overvalued Aussie dollar returns to something a little closer to sanity. DigitalRev's price for a 15-85 just went from about $640-odd before tax to $700 even.

I was going to order one there but they added a $70 "import handling fee" onto my order to replace the GST. Note that as a foreign order for less than AU$1000, it is GST exempt. What this amounts to is selling the item for 10% more than they advertised it for. I don't mind paying for freight, and I don't mind paying GST, but I'm damned if I'll pay 10% extra when the law says I don't have to. So I canceled the order and went elsewhere. To my surprise and pleasure, DWI still had it for $650.

I much prefer t o buy locally, but at $700 delivered vs over $1000 to get the same thing from a local business, I don't really have a choice.

I should imagine that the exchange rate will drop quite a bit over the next little while - at least that's what the finance page guys reckon, and they are smarter about this stuff than I'll ever be, which is why I got in today before stuff goes up too much.

[Tricky]

I don't think the reductions are substantial enough to bring local stock on par with grey stock. I'd be prepared to pay, say, 10-15% more for local stock but beyond that it's just too much money to give away...

Canon Australia's RRP for a 5D Mk2 remains pretty lofty at $3,299.... I just ordered a grey import 5D Mk2 for $2,188 (incl 2 year door-to-door warranty from seller and no GST/duty risk as the body is already in their Sydney warehouse)... that's a $1,111 or 34% difference