Photography Stores, a tactile experience that sells.
I love photography stores, I prefer the older ones you know, mom and pop style shops. The more eclectic the better, they often have tons of odd gear, and life-long industry technocrats that love the photographic technology and know a little and sometimes a lot about anything you could ask for.
I worked in a similar pro-shop when I was much younger, learned a lot both from the clients as well as from the other employees. I got my first editing job working on a book for a State Health Dept. from people I met in the store and my first professional photography assignments as well. Needless to say I have a soft spot for these great businesses and the hard working people who study and practice so they can be of service to all of us. It's sometimes sad to see them struggle against the internet and search engines although the smart owners have figured out how to compete with service, ambiance, and competitive pricing. When anyone can go online to do all kinds of research and compare prices and you can get gear and think you may have gotten the best deal, it makes it very hard for the smaller family owned business to survive. On the other hand with some online resellers you may also get terrible service, unanswered phones, and rude support people (when you can reach them) and often they don't have a clue how to answer complex or challenging questions.
This is where the local store can beat the big chains, internet retailers, and discount bulk resellers. You can't beat the tactile experience of holding a camera to see how it fits in your hand. Does the balance, controls, and software feel right for your needs. Placing it side by side against other possible choices while the camera experts compare features and tell you about their experiences with your choices. Online you can't experience shopping for a camera or anything else this way. This in large part is why the media's prophecies of doom for brick and mortar that was so popular in the 90s at the beginning of the internet boom was so very wrong. Every news outlet, network, magazines, and newspapers went on and on about how the Internet would kill off all retail businesses within five years! That as we all know was some time ago. What the so-called experts did not realize is the real value we humans put on feeling something, the texture, smell, weight, perception of quality, etc. This is why home theater stores thrive even when you can get a flat panel screen cheaper online or for that matter at your local discount warehouse (although they often don't carry the better models, cheaper is often just that, cheap) but thats another blog...
Don't get me wrong, I order online all the time, I was an early adopter as I often am in all kinds of things. However somethings are best for online and others are better in person. I get custom made dress shirts ordered to my specifications online, I would never buy a suit that way. I buy filters, accessories, and sometimes point and shoot cameras online. But for me never an SLR unless I had used one from a friend, rented it locally, or investigated at a trade show.
I've been looking for a new SLR and lenses for my daughter, the one I've mentioned in earlier posts on the tripod discussion I'm also looking for a new telephoto zoom for me. I went into a local store to handle, play with, and get the opinions of the local experts. I believe it is morally wrong to go into a store use this expertise, take up their time and then go home and buy something online. It's and ethical issue that if I made use of the service and knowledge I owe it to them to buy from them. The often 5% savings is not worth it, even at 10% saving it still is not fair in taking advantage of the local retailers. Further, what's my time worth, will I pay for shipping, will I have lousy customer service issues and what if I have to return something? Who pays the shipping, then, runs to the UPS store, packs everything, spends time on the phone getting an RMA number? Almost always you do. So in the end it may be worth it and may even be less expensive to get the item you are thinking about locally where possible.
As much as I'd like this to be an argument as to why you should buy from the local retailer it's not. Let me tell you a little store about my experience with a camera store in Brookfield, WI this week. And why in this case I will think twice about going in that particular store again.
After doing my usual browse of the outside walls, checking the discount tables, and as is my usual pattern eavesdrop on the clerks as they talk to customers to gauge if they know what they are talking about I made my approach to the glass cases. Come on I know many of you do this! Get too close to the glass counters too soon and you'll have to answer the "may I help you questions" and the mood and situations changes. Sometimes I want to look, see what's on the shelves and what interesting items are in the used gear case. However once you engage the sales person it's hard to continue to browse at the pace you want.
So I decide to ask the sales person about a lens I had read about online, wondered if he felt certain features were worth the money, etc. I was looking for a 70-200 or 100-300 lens in this case. I had used a Canon 2.8 L IS lens and loved it even though it was very heavy. It's too expensive for my budget so I wanted to look at similar lenses from Tamron or Sigma as well as considering the non Stabilized (IS in Canon Speak) versions. The store had the lenses in stock and I could see the boxes. The problem was the sales person refused to show them to me! He said the owner refused to let them take lenses out of the box, or let customers handle them without buying them first! Now that may have been the truth, or it may have been the salesmen's game to try and make me buy something, I can't really say. What I can promise is that he lost a sale to me and I'd bet many other people too.
As I stated above the primary advantage a local store has (any local store of any kind of merchandise) is to entice us to by putting the object of our desire within reach. Why do you think all the TV's are out and turned on, why car lots want you to get in the cars and drive them, why cell phones are lined up on displays for you to play with. To get you to touch them and bond with them. Experience them through all your sensations. Refusing to let me see or handle the lens and to compare them side by side lost this store a sale and if this really is the policy I am sure it costs them many sales. Regardless of the thinking behind the policy (if it even was the store policy) the primary advantage the store had is lost by preventing it's customers from the tactile experience.
I went home and ordered a lens from an online only retailer, (ask me and I'll tell you which one and why). Need I say more?
I worked in a similar pro-shop when I was much younger, learned a lot both from the clients as well as from the other employees. I got my first editing job working on a book for a State Health Dept. from people I met in the store and my first professional photography assignments as well. Needless to say I have a soft spot for these great businesses and the hard working people who study and practice so they can be of service to all of us. It's sometimes sad to see them struggle against the internet and search engines although the smart owners have figured out how to compete with service, ambiance, and competitive pricing. When anyone can go online to do all kinds of research and compare prices and you can get gear and think you may have gotten the best deal, it makes it very hard for the smaller family owned business to survive. On the other hand with some online resellers you may also get terrible service, unanswered phones, and rude support people (when you can reach them) and often they don't have a clue how to answer complex or challenging questions.
This is where the local store can beat the big chains, internet retailers, and discount bulk resellers. You can't beat the tactile experience of holding a camera to see how it fits in your hand. Does the balance, controls, and software feel right for your needs. Placing it side by side against other possible choices while the camera experts compare features and tell you about their experiences with your choices. Online you can't experience shopping for a camera or anything else this way. This in large part is why the media's prophecies of doom for brick and mortar that was so popular in the 90s at the beginning of the internet boom was so very wrong. Every news outlet, network, magazines, and newspapers went on and on about how the Internet would kill off all retail businesses within five years! That as we all know was some time ago. What the so-called experts did not realize is the real value we humans put on feeling something, the texture, smell, weight, perception of quality, etc. This is why home theater stores thrive even when you can get a flat panel screen cheaper online or for that matter at your local discount warehouse (although they often don't carry the better models, cheaper is often just that, cheap) but thats another blog...
Don't get me wrong, I order online all the time, I was an early adopter as I often am in all kinds of things. However somethings are best for online and others are better in person. I get custom made dress shirts ordered to my specifications online, I would never buy a suit that way. I buy filters, accessories, and sometimes point and shoot cameras online. But for me never an SLR unless I had used one from a friend, rented it locally, or investigated at a trade show.
I've been looking for a new SLR and lenses for my daughter, the one I've mentioned in earlier posts on the tripod discussion I'm also looking for a new telephoto zoom for me. I went into a local store to handle, play with, and get the opinions of the local experts. I believe it is morally wrong to go into a store use this expertise, take up their time and then go home and buy something online. It's and ethical issue that if I made use of the service and knowledge I owe it to them to buy from them. The often 5% savings is not worth it, even at 10% saving it still is not fair in taking advantage of the local retailers. Further, what's my time worth, will I pay for shipping, will I have lousy customer service issues and what if I have to return something? Who pays the shipping, then, runs to the UPS store, packs everything, spends time on the phone getting an RMA number? Almost always you do. So in the end it may be worth it and may even be less expensive to get the item you are thinking about locally where possible.
As much as I'd like this to be an argument as to why you should buy from the local retailer it's not. Let me tell you a little store about my experience with a camera store in Brookfield, WI this week. And why in this case I will think twice about going in that particular store again.
After doing my usual browse of the outside walls, checking the discount tables, and as is my usual pattern eavesdrop on the clerks as they talk to customers to gauge if they know what they are talking about I made my approach to the glass cases. Come on I know many of you do this! Get too close to the glass counters too soon and you'll have to answer the "may I help you questions" and the mood and situations changes. Sometimes I want to look, see what's on the shelves and what interesting items are in the used gear case. However once you engage the sales person it's hard to continue to browse at the pace you want.
So I decide to ask the sales person about a lens I had read about online, wondered if he felt certain features were worth the money, etc. I was looking for a 70-200 or 100-300 lens in this case. I had used a Canon 2.8 L IS lens and loved it even though it was very heavy. It's too expensive for my budget so I wanted to look at similar lenses from Tamron or Sigma as well as considering the non Stabilized (IS in Canon Speak) versions. The store had the lenses in stock and I could see the boxes. The problem was the sales person refused to show them to me! He said the owner refused to let them take lenses out of the box, or let customers handle them without buying them first! Now that may have been the truth, or it may have been the salesmen's game to try and make me buy something, I can't really say. What I can promise is that he lost a sale to me and I'd bet many other people too.
As I stated above the primary advantage a local store has (any local store of any kind of merchandise) is to entice us to by putting the object of our desire within reach. Why do you think all the TV's are out and turned on, why car lots want you to get in the cars and drive them, why cell phones are lined up on displays for you to play with. To get you to touch them and bond with them. Experience them through all your sensations. Refusing to let me see or handle the lens and to compare them side by side lost this store a sale and if this really is the policy I am sure it costs them many sales. Regardless of the thinking behind the policy (if it even was the store policy) the primary advantage the store had is lost by preventing it's customers from the tactile experience.
I went home and ordered a lens from an online only retailer, (ask me and I'll tell you which one and why). Need I say more?
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