Pentax/Ricoh putting prices up

Email from sales at SRS.


Get in there quick...

Jez

did they have new stock 24hrs after we knew about the increase because that,s when some of their prices went up, one day DA70 £389, 24hrs later £509

Then the answer must be yes.

i,m a bit more cynical i,m afraid

The lenses that we immediately increased in price were out of stock when I was told about the price changes, hence the need to increase the prices of these straight away, as fresh stock would have to be sold be at the new price.

As we have done previously, we are keeping the prices of existing stocks at the 'old' price. Once these have been sold, these will increase in price.

Hope this clarifies the situation.

Chris

How come?

Do you really think I want to increase prices when my competitors still have stock at the old prices?

The price changes were not my doing.

A 30% increase is a somewhat rather large increase. I wonder what the reasons are?????

Ricoh Pentax are losing money according to the Nikkei, maybe they need to try and recoup some of their losses.

Best regards

Hi, other makes are increasing as well it seems.

It's the manufacturers role to make a decent statement about all this. i've not seen one.

Most of us I think hoped the new Pentax UK/Europe would be more forthcoming than the old. They do list this site as a link after all under the menu USER Info on their web site. If this is the official UK User web site then perhaps the UK team could inform us a little more often. Not fair to put it on the Pro dealers such as SRS who kindly do post on here.

I have to admit I am pretty gutted about this. I bought a K5 last month as the word was they were going to increase prices soon as the old rebate deal was ending and they will be releasing a new model soon. Now I think I should have invested in lenses.

Having said that, I think Pentax were under-selling some of their Limited range a little. But the price increases are massive, and a lens like the DA15 was already pretty steep.

prices up but like the advertisement ONLY
Pentax smc DA 12-24 mm f4.0 ED AL(IF) Lens - £799.00 only!!!
2008 cost £280 not much difference then

I suppose that they will come out with all the usual lame excuses, Exchange Rate, Tsunami, etc etc. But the long and short is that we suffer. Perhaps we need to vote with our feet for say A YEAR and we dont buy anything? Im sure we would all have withdrawal symptons but WE could do it.

I know why you say this, but..

ALL manufacturers need to make profits to survive. If camera and lens sales are down, so are profits.

WE have a choice. Support our chosen manufacturer or see it whither and die. If they go, so does our hobby, and if that's the case, no whinging about it!

All camera manufacturers are upping their prices. We've had a good deal from Pentax for a long time. The fact that they are trying to stay in the market is good for Pentaxians, even though it might hit our pockets.

My personal relationship with Pentax is also linked to price. I'll buy their products so long as I see the right price/performance balance, and I'll be letting them know if it's not right,(a) by telling them, and (b) by not buying.

There's only a point in increasing prices if it is going to increase margins. Some of these price rises are enormous and it is difficult to envisage anything other than a corresponding drop in sales. Maybe they are setting the market up for a future promotions drive with massive discounts. Maybe analysis shows that the Chinese market can bear elevated prices and the rest of us have to suffer. Or is it perhaps a desperate measure by a struggling business. It certainly does seem a puzzling decision. The modern consumer is well informed and I think Pentax would do well to issue some kind of explanation.

My concern about the original Ricoh takeover was that Ricoh, whose core business is not photography, was in bad shape. I hope the decision to raise prices is based only upon the requirements of the photography division only.

Dr Orloff.

Putting up prices will ALWAYS increase the margin, which is the difference between cost and sales price.

Depending on the elasticity of demand, the advantage of a higher margin may be outweighed by a more than proportional fall in sales volumes (as you said).

This is the fear. However, none of us work for Pentax, and none of us are privy to the information on which Pentax has based its marketing decisions. I find the assumption by many people here that Pentax doesn't know the principles of supply and demand to be comical.

As for Ricoh being in bad shape, it's true that they had a bad year in 2009. They were not alone, of course. They made reasonable profits for the years to March 2010 and 2011, and a profit for the half year to September 2011. They are forecasting a profit for 2012 which will be approximately 10% up on 2011, which in turn was 10% upon 2010.

So I think the bad shape stuff is historical. If my income was both reasonable and rising 10% every year, I would not be complaining.

G