> Once upon a time, in a land, far far away.......Olympus hit upon a niche
> camera system that was much appreciated by those in the know. This culminated
> in the OM 3Ti and Om4 Ti. It was a true camera system with macro and flash
> capability and a high degree of compatibility across the board. The only
> thing it did not have was Autofocus, but it suited me - and a great many
> others. I feel it was the Leica of the SLR world. This was backed up by a
> good dealer network where you could actually handle the product before you
> bought it.
And the Schnozzasuaris is still in love with this system. He shoots
film just so he can use these gems.
> Very little compatibility between different cameras - let alone systems -
> battery grips and batteries tend to be model specific. More importantly the
> dealer network in the UK is non existent! Camera shops in the UK tend to
> stock either Nikon or Canon and the only places you can get Olympus cameras
> are the big box discount outlets. My local camera shop used to sell a fair
> amount of Olympus kit for the size of the shop. Now it has been removed from
> the Olympus preferred network because it does not order in enough volume. The
> result of this is that I can buy from discount outlets cheaper than the shop
> can buy in trade! So customers do not get the chance to handle cameras and
> go down the Canon route instead. ( He is a Canon Dealership) It is all very
> sad!
There is a specific issue that has plagued Olympus authorized dealers
since time immortal and that's the minimum order. While this sorted
itself out, for the most part, in Europe, in the USA, Olympus America
created a perfect storm. If you, the customer, walk into the bricks
and mortar store and want to order an item not in stock, the dealer
can't just order it. They have to order it with a ton of other items.
The minimum order kicks in. The dealer ends up holding the request
until he can place an order for enough stuff. That order for stuff can
take six months. Then when he DOES place the order, the item may be
backordered or batch produced and can take another 6-8 months to
arrive. Seriously, who is going to wait for a year to buy something
that's in stock at B&H?
The customer gets screwed. The dealer gets screwed and Olympus
Corporation gets screwed because of a stupid rule which favors only
five stores in the entire country but is the brainchild of some idiot
running the regional division.
Olympus America made it their mission in life to destroy the small
dealer network and focus all their energies on a small handful of
retailers. Great idea, but backfired over time. However, to be fair,
Olympus is still around. Other comparable companies that did it right
are gone. Pentax, Minolta...
--
Ken Norton
ken@xxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.zone-10.com
--
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