Bill Pierce
Well-known
I recently got into a conversation with several photographers about buying online versus buying at the local camera store. The first topic that came up was service. Obviously, you’re not going to get a lot of user feedback and detailed information buying on the internet. When I first came to NYC, Gene Smith and Robert Mottar took me to Royaltone, a rather small store in the West 20’s. Ernst Haas was at the counter checking some of his color slides that Royaltone had just gotten back from Kodak. You got the feeling that this was a store with a rather knowledgable set of customers. In fact, it was THE store, as much camera club and camera college as retail outlet. Clerks and customers pooled information on what was working and what wasn’t for a group of photographers with pretty high standards. Royaltone is long gone, but there are other stores that provide user feedback along with the gear. FotoCare isn’t far from where Royaltone was in a neighborhood once called the “photo district.” They sell equipment; they rent equipment; they have a small auditorium where folks give presentations; they hang photo exhibitions on their walls. And, between the customers and the clerks, they are a hands on source of what works (and how it works) and what doesn’t work. Certainly, if there is a retail store near you, you should investigate it and see if it’s a good one.
The one other advantage that retail stores have over internet stores is a staff that you get to know, actual humans that can do things that aren’t on an internet check list. Once, when I was doing a story in Canada’s Northwest Territories, Royaltone had a specialty lens located, sent to a repair shop and modified to fit the camera bodies I was using and shipped to Canada. That involved three different organizations and a lot of time and effort. And they didn’t bill me until I got back. When the Leica M8 first came out, the first one I received was defective. Leitz would have insisted on shipping it to Germany for repair and it probably would not be returned for several months. I do not know how they did it, but FotoCare returned it and gave me another from their stock. It also turned out to be defective. They returned it and gave me a new one that worked and was the beginning of my taking digital seriously. Flesh and blood people work outside the barrel, and that is often very valuable
The second topic that came up was price. Like it or not, this is an important consideration. No doubt that the very high volume of online sales from some of the big folks at places like Amazon and B&H allow them to sell at a lower profit margin and still do well. However, don’t think that all on line stores are cheaper than your local store. It’s often not so; check it out. However, absorbing credit card charges and shipping charges can really hurt small stores and cut their profit margin when you are not buying “in person.” This seems to a big concern among merchants I’ve talked to. Picking up your goodies “in store” and paying by check don’t seem too heavy a price for feedback and information. It will help your store survive. (Paying for shipping and paying a monthly bill by check don’t seem too heavy a price when it’s necessary.)
All this presumes that there is a good store that is convenient to you. This isn’t always true. Internet sales are not only convenient, but, for some folks, an absolutely necessity and a blessing. That situation will increase as more conventional retail stores feel the internet pressure and close for good. While I think the personalized services a conventional retail camera store can provide are exceptionally valuable, I sometimes think I am looking at the last generation of such stores.
Your thoughts?
The one other advantage that retail stores have over internet stores is a staff that you get to know, actual humans that can do things that aren’t on an internet check list. Once, when I was doing a story in Canada’s Northwest Territories, Royaltone had a specialty lens located, sent to a repair shop and modified to fit the camera bodies I was using and shipped to Canada. That involved three different organizations and a lot of time and effort. And they didn’t bill me until I got back. When the Leica M8 first came out, the first one I received was defective. Leitz would have insisted on shipping it to Germany for repair and it probably would not be returned for several months. I do not know how they did it, but FotoCare returned it and gave me another from their stock. It also turned out to be defective. They returned it and gave me a new one that worked and was the beginning of my taking digital seriously. Flesh and blood people work outside the barrel, and that is often very valuable
The second topic that came up was price. Like it or not, this is an important consideration. No doubt that the very high volume of online sales from some of the big folks at places like Amazon and B&H allow them to sell at a lower profit margin and still do well. However, don’t think that all on line stores are cheaper than your local store. It’s often not so; check it out. However, absorbing credit card charges and shipping charges can really hurt small stores and cut their profit margin when you are not buying “in person.” This seems to a big concern among merchants I’ve talked to. Picking up your goodies “in store” and paying by check don’t seem too heavy a price for feedback and information. It will help your store survive. (Paying for shipping and paying a monthly bill by check don’t seem too heavy a price when it’s necessary.)
All this presumes that there is a good store that is convenient to you. This isn’t always true. Internet sales are not only convenient, but, for some folks, an absolutely necessity and a blessing. That situation will increase as more conventional retail stores feel the internet pressure and close for good. While I think the personalized services a conventional retail camera store can provide are exceptionally valuable, I sometimes think I am looking at the last generation of such stores.
Your thoughts?
