Pentax Europe Online Store

I recieved the Pentax email news letter a couple of days back announcing that their on-line store was now up and running. On-line Store

I cann't recall anyone commenting on it (post launch) so I decided to take a look...

Now I welcome the concept of Pentax having an on-line store - it should be a good place to get all those hard to find Pentax accessories which other shops don't stock.

However I was disapointed by the range of items on display. For instance the new 100mm WR Macro isn't mentioned, nor the WR kit lenses, nor flash leads, focusing screens, lens hoods, body/lens caps...

What's the point of a PENTAX shop if it doesn't have the full range of kit availlable? Enhusiasts want somewhere to easily buy esoteric pices of Pentax kit.

Some of the kit is not labled very well - apparently the DA*55 is a wide angle lens and it has a K-AF mount (not K-AF3 i.e. SDM only focusing)!!!!

If someone looking for binoculars went to the Pentax shop they would have a poor view of what Pentax had to offer - the range of Pentax binocculars is far greater at SRS.

And to cap it all the prices are simply staggering - would you pay £219.99 for a DA 18-55 II?

I had nothing wider than 16mm so decided to buy a 10-17 fisheye and a 12-24 on 2 December 2009 (after some shopping arround) I got them for a total of £1099.23 the Pentax shop price for these 2 lenses is £1929.98 (both prices before cashback).

Clearly Pentax are not attempting to compete with shops such as SRS (et al) who have a better range availlable at better prices.

Well I've book marked it but unless the range and prices improve then I doubt if I'll be buying from there.


Footnote
DA 10-17 fisheye was £356.80 from PurelyGadgets.co.uk
DA 12-24 was £742.80 from Amazon.co.uk
prices included VAT and delivery.
As I bought from 2 places I can only claim cashback on the 12-24 which will be £50

I came to the same conclusion as you Bob.

How can Pentax ever come to the conclusion that this site is beneficial as an aid to their dealer network (as expresssed in their official statement below) is beyond me.

"Our retail partners provide us with fantastic exposure to the general market and keep pricing competitive for consumers with the more mainstream products. The online store will ensure that a broader portfolio of products, particularly accessories, is available than our partners have the capacity to carry. This in turn will make Pentax cameras a more attractive proposition to customers and should drive increased sales through traditional retail channels."

Any suggestions??

It just seems a complete waste of resources that could be better utilised elsewhere. In fact I could see the pricing as a turn off for potential new customers.

They would be better served by removing the prices and just using the site as a comprehensive product catalogue and provide a link to a page with the Pro dealers listed and segregrated into Web and B&M categories, which is what they have already (or supposed to have).

My suggestion is to fire Digital River and also the person who thought it was a good idea. That should free up some resources for better marketing, or lower prices!

I don't think the idea was bad but the implementation sucks.

K.

I was impressed by the new, compact look of the 60-250!

[IMG]http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/uu241/greynolds999/pentaxstore.jpg[/IMG]

K-7 body only

Pentax price: £1120.
SRS : £889.

Proof reading leaves a lot to be desired too...

And this is a little disturbing, on one of the Customer Services pages:

"If you live outside the United States, custom and tariff fees may apply according to your country's import laws. These fees are not collected by this company, and this company does not have control of these fees."

They've obviously just copied across all this info from the US version.

Oh, and do these cameras come with a 2 year warranty?

Dan

That ultra short DA* 60-250 is the Limited Edition model with half the elements missing

I'm not even going to bother to look at the site, let alone bookmark it.

Oh dear, just had a gander too

Somebody from Pentax needs to run over this with a QA eye, pretty sharpish

I thought the site was brilliant

Showed management the site just now and she was so impressed that my recent purchases had been bought at such knock down prices. Saved so much money on my AF160FC ringflash from SRS and DA* 60-250 from Park Cameras

Don't think I will be signing up for an account any time soon

I think that it would be pointless, the fact that it's been launched with an announcement from Pentax UK is indicative that there's no management competency. It's a pathetic effort and a waste of resources, someone should be held accountable.

I think the best solution would be to just remove the site and forget it.

They should support and give incentive's to the decent dealers and let them do the web stores, they do a much more competent job.

It sounds ridiculous for pentax to suggest their new online website prices are competetive compared to the other retailers. Either they have lost complete touch with reality or they have no clue about current retail prices available in the uk. The pentax accessories section on the "new online website" in my view is a disgrace for a brand name like Pentax. How the hell on earth it can claim to provide more than other retailers.The prices on the new website is beyond beggars belief and if they expect us to buy from their online store with such inflated prices,they should seriously do their research and come up with"competetive pricing".In my view "Beware of inflated prices on the new online store is more appropriate" Its a disgrace

Sorry to say this (), but I do believe you have to buy more than one item from the same store on the same invoice to claim cashback. Single items are not elegible. I also believe that the product must be from an approved Pentax dealer and have been supplied to them via Pentax UK.

Purely Gadgets are not a listed UK dealer, I'm pretty certain they supply grey imports. Also I'm not sure if Amazon are a Pentax dealer, they are not listed as a dealer on the Pentax UK site, also many of the stores who supply via Amazon are grey importers as well, i.e. British Bargains.