KonicaMinolta Canada

[DaveW]

It shouldn't be a big suprise -
KM 7D at Henry's in Toronto - 2000 Cad (1650 US dollars)
KM 7D at B&H after rebate - 900 US dollars.

Canadians can literly fly to New York, stay in a hotel for a night or two, eat at a nice restaurant, and buy a few knick nacks will still saving money over buying it up here.  Simply disgraceful.

KM 5D in Canada? Forget about it.

If KM Canada thinks they can sell cameras with that poor of a Canadian marketing and pricing strategy, then they deserve to be shut down.  

I do believe however, that KM is looking for someone to distribute their products in Canada, so hopefully you'll still be able to buy them locally - hopefully at a reasonable cost.

[DaveLon]

I'm not sure KM is any different from others in Canada.

New 5D will initially sell for $4120 US in Canada and $3299 US in the US.

Go figure.

Dave

[Kenneth Sky]

Service is my main concern. The alternatives are to subcontract out t a local independant firm or force Canadians to go through the hassle of cross-border shipping, Neither of these is as good as the present situation where I can ( and have) driven to the Mississauga shop for quick turnaround and expert advice.

[Jonathan Ratzlaff]

I received an email from the BC rep of KonicaMinolta stating that they are closing down the imaging portion of the company in Canada and after October1 their products will no longer be available in Canada.

Remember when Konica did the same thing with their cameras in the 80's?  Too bad.

[Kenneth Sky]

As a dedicated Minolta user, I am truly disappointed in K-M. Having owned a 7000 and 7000i and still posessing a 9xi, 9 and D7 as well 7 lenses, I have been comitted to there system. In fact I was looking forward to a "9D" with improved resolution, especially as they had announced a partnership with Sony. Yesterday's announcement of the R-1 by Sony seemed to reinforce that possibility. The retail business model of K-M is disasterous in Canada. At least Nikon adjusted their pricing to recognize the 84 cent dollar and internet retail reality. If K-M survives to put out a newer and better product my only choice will be e-Bay! But what about service and support. As a Torontonian, I am spoiled to expect that as well and that will sorely be missed.

[Mark D Segal]

If K-M is really closing down all of their imaging support in Canada as of October 1, I wonder what support arrangements they are making for the many thounsands of Canadians who own K-M equipment (I own the model 5400 scanner). What do I do if it breaks? Unless they have address this issue satisfactorily it will do serious damage to their international reputation.

As for those higher Canadian prices, yes living here in Toronto I too am affected by it. I don't think these companies are foolish enough to try to gouge the Canadian market - why should they - they want sales. They know about the internet every bit as much as we consumers do. I think the problem is simply one of scale economies. The overhead needed to maintain a distribution and service facility of any quality has a certain minimum size and cost, which can be high, and that overhead is spread over a market that is perhaps less than 10% of the size of the US market in terms of purchasing power and population. Then we also have a tax regime in Canada that they are not exempt from. Once they do their homework and realize they can look after Canada cheaper from somewhere else, nothing will stop them from doing so - my only concern is that they service us well however they intend to do it.

[Mark D Segal]

I agree. I have been frequently in touch with K-M Mississauga, from whom I get very satisfactory responsiveness, and I have dropped a line to my contact there asking what the new arrangements will be.

[kwanon]

If KM Canada thinks they can sell cameras with that poor of a Canadian marketing and pricing strategy, then they deserve to be shut down.

Same thing that happened to Olympus, and Hasselblad (and Pentax Canada isn't far behind)- having a Canadian distributor that didn't have a clue about marketing or service.

No loss, really.

[Mark D Segal]

I have discussed the situation with K-M Canada here in Toronto. They are discontinuing marketing and customer support for cameras and scanners in Canada, but making arrangements to assure continuity in product repair service locally. This is very important and welcome.

Of course any company that choses to vacate a market presence does so at their own risk to future sales. One must assume they are mature adults who have looked at the potential costs, benefits and risks of serving the Canadian market either by continuing to do it from Canada or by selling and supporting the products from the USA. They have made their decision according to their own analysis. So be it.

We need to face the fact that for quite a number of products that simply don't have the operational scale - say of a Canon or a Nikon - Canada is a relatively thin market with high overheads. Perhaps if all us Canadian consumers pledged an oath of allegiance never-ever to buy anything from B&H regardless of the savings, some of these local distribution arrangements may have a better chance of survival; but even then there will be casualties. With the combination of the internet, FedEx and cheap long-distance phone rates many would have no problem ordering a "must-have" Minolta product from the US, as long as there existed reasonable return privileges, decent customer support from wherever (e.g. my Dell is supported from India) and a convenient repair facility.

[kwanon]

Perhaps if all us Canadian consumers pledged an oath of allegiance never-ever to buy anything from B&H regardless of the savings, some of these local distribution arrangements may have a better chance of survival

B&H also provides much better and significantly faster service than the local retailers or their Canadian distributors.  

The Canadian distributors for most brands in the photo industry are lazy, greedy, and pretty much not interested in competing for business.

[Mark D Segal]

I really don't agree with a blanket statement like that. For example, (i) you can't really sustain an argument that local distributorships such as Canon and Nikon aren't in the same business as their head offices competing for market share wherever in the world they are established; (ii) Epson Canada provides strong support to the pro-graphics community in particular, but to other consumers with problems as well; (iii) Konica-Minolta itself really provided top-notch technical support out of their Mississauga location.

The problem we are facing here is a generic economic issue of overhead versus market scale. We aren't the USA period.

That much said, there are instances of pricing that really look egregious, but may have their own micro-rationale while still being irrational in the wider scheme of things. In another post in the Best Buy discussion thread I mentioned my experience with LaCie just the other day. A hard-drive they market in Canada for 340 dollars Canadian I imported from J&R Computer in New York for 200 dollars equivalent Canadian (USD 170) plus a few bucks shipping. It was at my door in Toronto within 24 hours of placing the order. This is the reality of Internet+UPS+American marketing scale. It's hard to beat no matter the personality of the local distributorship.

I agree that our retailing is choked-up here with higher prices and lack of merchandising depth that you see South of the Border - but solving this will require structural changes in how merchandise is procured, supported and retailed in Canada.