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Re: [OM] Silence of the lambs

Subject: Re: [OM] Silence of the lambs
From: Nathan Wajsman <photo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sat, 16 Jun 2012 19:01:04 +0200
Maybe, but not always. These days, all things considered, I probably spend more 
money on cycling than on photo equipment. And most of that spend has gone to my 
neighborhood bicycle shop (10 minutes walk from my home), where I have bought 
two relatively expensive bikes (each around 1200 Euro) and two cheaper ones (in 
the 500 Euro range) during the 4 years I have lived in this part of Alicante. 
In addition, I have bought one bicycle online, from Wiggle in the UK, one of 
the world's two main online bike shops (the other is Chain Reaction Cycles, 
also in the UK).

So why do I shop locally so much? Because the local bicycle shop treats me like 
a valued customer and not an idiot to be milked. When I have a problem, they 
fix it at a fair price (which sometimes is zero). Last year, I wanted to buy a 
new set of shifters for one of the bikes and I went to the neighborhood shop to 
check the price. The price from the Spanish distributor they work with turned 
out to be around 300 Euro, compared with less than 200 at one of the UK online 
shops. They shop owner told me that they make very little profit on this item 
anyway, and he suggested that I just order online and they would install it and 
just charge me a modest amount for labor, which still saved me 80 Euro or so.

Sadly, there is no camera store in Alicante or anywhere in Spain for that 
matter that would give me this kind of service. So all my equipment purchases 
are online.

The bottom line is that the local shop survives (indeed, they thrive and have 
recently moved into larger premises down the street) because they provide value 
that their customers are willing to pay for, within reason. This applies to 
most other trades as well.

Cheers,
Nathan

Nathan Wajsman
Alicante, Spain
http://www.frozenlight.eu
http://www.greatpix.eu
http://www.nathanfoto.com
PICTURE OF THE WEEK: http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws
Blog: http://nathansmusings.wordpress.com/


YNWA



On Jun 16, 2012, at 5:30 PM, Tina Manley wrote:

> Unfortunately what some retailers do to survive is slash prices, import
> everything from China, and ignore quality - the equivalent of selling
> photos for pennies through micro-stock agencies :-(
> 
> Tina
> 
> On Sat, Jun 16, 2012 at 11:24 AM, Robert Adler <rgacpa@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> 
>> I actually can't think of a better forum (other than including the LUG and
>> Leica R) to figure out a business model that may work. To me this is the
>> "Big Box" economic model. It has killed many small businesses. But there
>> have been many that have survived and thrived.
>> 
>> So why have some retailers survived? What about their commodities appeal?
>> How can we apply that to photography?
>> 
>> These are hard questions, but we have many photographers in these forums
>> who have what I think of as "institutional knowledge" in the business of
>> photography. What are niches we can excel in to not have to give away the
>> store?
>> 
>> Sort of an open ended question that I hope yields some ideas we can banter
>> about and try.
>> Best,
>> Bob
>> 
>> On Sat, Jun 16, 2012 at 8:12 AM, Bob Whitmire <bwhitmire@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>> wrote:
>> 
>>> That's because an ever increasing number of people can't read worth
>> squat.
>>> 
>>> --Bob
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On Jun 16, 2012, at 9:43 AM, John Hudson wrote:
>>> 
>>>> since an ever declining number of people are attracted to quality
>>> in-depth
>>>> writing.
>>> 
>>> --
>>> _________________________________________________________________
>>> Options: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/listinfo/olympus
>>> Archives: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/private/olympus/
>>> Themed Olympus Photo Exhibition: http://www.tope.nl/
>>> 
>>> 
>> 
>> 
>> --
>> Bob Adler
>> http://www.rgaphoto.com
>> --
>> _________________________________________________________________
>> Options: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/listinfo/olympus
>> Archives: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/private/olympus/
>> Themed Olympus Photo Exhibition: http://www.tope.nl/
>> 
>> 
>> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Tina Manley, ASMP
> www.tinamanley.com
> -- 
> _________________________________________________________________
> Options: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/listinfo/olympus
> Archives: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/private/olympus/
> Themed Olympus Photo Exhibition: http://www.tope.nl/
> 
> 

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