"SONY Style" stores are hardly worth the trip ... for your DSLR

Well, I also spread this annoying aspect of SONY Shopping to Dyxum ... where, they also are casting aspersions at the idea of having an "expert" at the camera counter. Obviously, a moron is more appropriate to propel SONY DSLR sales into the future (slapping head). Okay, no wonder this "point & shoot" economy is heading right for the crap hole ... with all you "visionaries" in charge. :rolleyes:

its not the idea that's the issue, its the feasibility and logic of it. ie: zero. you talk a good game Don but when asked to provide facts and answers you just carry on ranting and ignore constructing a logical argument.

I checked my local Sonystyle and interestingly, in stock was
70-200mm f2.8 G
35mm F1.4 G
70-300mm F4.5-5.6 G
85mm F1.4 ZA Carl Zeiss Planar T*
24-70mm F2.8 ZA SSM Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T*
50mm F2.8 macro
50mm F1.4

Didn't check anything else but still... Of course you can't walk in and try them all out because they're all sale items, not demos.
I heard that Sonystyles are franchises so selling is the name of the game and if they open a box and don't get a sale they have to discount it. That's OK for a £200 P&S that sells fifty a month, not OK for a £1500 lens that sells one a month.

Buying patterns have changed anyway and most people are no longer happy to pay the premium for old-fashioned service, they want the lowest price. Small specialist stores are on the decline in all areas of interest; it may be cause for regret but it is a fact. If Sonystyle did offer demo lenses, people would try them out and then go and buy on the Net.

Does Canon and Nikon offer in store demos of all its lenses? Genuine question, I've never been in a Canikon store (nor Sonystyle come to that)

Perhaps a new approach is needed. Maybe Sony could have a roadshow that turned up in the big Sonystyles maybe every other month or so with experts, all the kit on demo and maybe a workshop of some description.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Peekayoh

Does Canon and Nikon offer in store demos of all its lenses? Genuine question, I've never been in a Canikon store (nor Sonystyle come to that)

Perhaps a new approach is needed. Maybe Sony could have a roadshow that turned up in the big Sonystyles maybe every other month or so with experts, all the kit on demo and maybe a workshop of some description.

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Any reasonable camera store should be able to offer demos of just about any lens in stock. Hell, I've taken camera bodies + lenses out for hour-long walks from some stores by leaving my credit card and drivers license with the store. Doing stuff like this has directly lead me to purchase a body (my E-510) and to choose a 70-300 over Olympus' larger and better quality 50-200 SWD, because I have small, arthritic hands.

Being able to physically handle stuff in photography is rather important.

I think it's a US problem. Sony seems to be actively promoting their alpha line everywhere else I visit and see on the internets. Quite unfortunate for us.

I had heard some strange things about how SONY basically ignored US sales ... and that our input does not count for much. They are caught up in the Japanese and European fury. The US Market languishes with SONY apparently having no real desire to excel in it at all. So, it looks like an uphill run, until they give the US market the attention it deserves and desires.


I mean, this is a pretty good punch in the eye Attachment 47565, in my estimation ... I would love to see if ANYBODY even bothers to respond.

there are what...50 sony stores in the USA i suppose ? 100 ? i dont know. lets say its just 50...can you imagine every one of those stores being stocked with the high end lens' and bodies you are talking about just for the purposes of someone trying it in a store ? then theres another 100 or so photography based stores which i think you had an issue with aswell ? giving each one of those stores a piece of that high end probbaly totals double the sales they would get from the lens itself. thats actually an insane business decision.

and you STILL refuse to make a logical case or point.

Rooz, they could make one store in a region a "whole SONY DSLR system" store, with a competent sale representative stationed at it. That is not being unreasonable. That is marketing for the masses. Call it an active "demonstration location", where they don't even have to keep stock ... just have the SONY system available to examine and learn with. in a short, explained way. Right now, a city as big as Chicago is has nothing but the camera bodies and about seven DT and a couple primes lenses ... for 6 million people! I'm not talking about some isolated Australian "Outback" location, where the most foot-traffic is field mice on parade ... this is THE CITY!

Attachment 47568


C'mon ... where's your sense of business, man? That is a hell of a lot lost opportunity, for a company trying to establish a foothold. See that very tall building to the left, that's the "Sears Tower" ... SONY wanted to buy it and change its name. I mean, even Amway has its promoters walking around with demonstration cases and samples, right to your doorway.

"If you build it ... they will come."

Look out of any of those darn windows. That's your logic. I cannot make it any clearer. JUST MAKE IT SO!

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Originally Posted by DonSchap

Rooz, they could make one store in a region a "whole SONY DSLR system" store, with a competent sale representative stationed at it. That is not being unreasonable.

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dont think i dont agree with your passion. i just dont think it makes business sense in the context of sony's core model. heck i dont think you could make a business case out of doing that for Canon and their HUGE volume let alone sony's. the logistics of it dont make sense to me. one store...huge overhead and cost, big labour...for what return ? what exposure will it get ? and whats the opportunity cost of that ? surely sound and vision products would warrant that kind of marketing approach much more than dslr's ?? besdies which, most people buy online nowadays in this global economy.

the best way for sony to make a BIG impact and drive sales is head down, bum up and just make better dslr's. right now, they make middle of the line consumer models based around the bottom end of the market. make the a"8"00 perform like a d300 AND have in body IS, a swivel screen and video and...well then...thats something they can really work with, BIG TIME. thats taking the leadership role as opposed to the catch up role. but they dont do that, they announed their intentions by releasing multiple cheap, bottom end cameras and ignoring the top end so serious photographers still dont take them too seriously.

i think one serious issue they have is cannibalising their other products which already have a massive customer base. make super cheap dslr's and you screw your top end P&S, build dslr's with kick ass video and you screw your camcorder market. build em middle of the road and thats all they are "middle of the road". its a tough position sony's in from that point of view so i can almost understand their apparent hesitancy and indecision.

Ignoring "customer support" is the path to losing your customer base. Normally, people do not come back, once they leave.

The entire game is "the system", which is being ignored. How many LCD televisions, stereos or DVD players require much more than some additional cable and then they sit there, in your home for several years, 'un-monkeyed' with.

Well, when it comes to DSLR cameras ... it is a HOURLY/DAILY/WEEKLY/MONTHLY thing to monkey with it and add to it. The whole reason you may have bought a DSLR was to get that wide selection of lenses and keep entertaining yourself with adding this flash or that filter ... just all sorts of options that you do not do with the rest of the SONY offering.

All of that requires an understanding, otherwise it can get very expensive, as you can make mistakes and waste a lot of time.

ANSWER: CUSTOMER SUPPORT! And having it regionally and personal, in at least one store, is a superior idea. Having access to the complete line of goodies, too, makes for an exciting field trip for any camera buff. Heck, they might even convince you that you've chosen the wrong system. ;)

Argue this any way you want ... I have heard the cries of those who have suffered the lack of such a resource in SONY land. It's time for a change. :cool: