Canon's Downsizing of 86 Authorized Dealers

[Mt Spokane Photography]

I saw a news article this morning noting that Canon is reducing almost 20% of their authorized dealers. That includes a local dealer near Spokane where I often order my Canon gear just to keep them going, their employees are all pro photographers, but they have slowly withered away. This might be a final blow, the owner had told me that Nikon was treating them poorly a few years back.

Many are small dealers, but there are some big names on the list too.

Its just another sign of the times and camera manufacturers trying to cut costs where the low sales costs more to support than it brings in.

 

[Dockland]

I saw a news article this morning noting that Canon is reducing almost 20% of their authorized dealers. That includes a local dealer near Spokane where I often order my Canon gear just to keep them going, their employees are all pro photographers, but they have slowly withered away. This might be a final blow, the owner had told me that Nikon was treating them poorly a few years back.

Many are small dealers, but there are some big names on the list too.

Its just another sign of the times and camera manufacturers trying to cut costs where the low sales costs more to support than it brings in.

Where? World wide?

 

[Don Haines]

I wonder how much of the sales comes from a very few online sites? I know that in the States B&H and Adorama take a big chunk, in Canada it seems to be Camera Canada and Henry’s....

 

[unfocused]

Where? World wide?

Canon USA according to Canon Price Watch. Don’t know what other countries are doing.

Rationale is it is too expensive to service these smaller retailers.

 

[srgb_rothko]

This is the article for anyone wondering.

I'm not interested in signing up there to comment so I was wondering if anyone here had any insight but this thread seems to be the extent of the discussion.

I used to work for a Canon authorized dealer that had their account dropped at the end of 2016, so I have some insight as to how this works and I'm just dumbfounded.

 

[Ozarker]

I wonder how much of the sales comes from a very few online sites? I know that in the States B&H and Adorama take a big chunk, in Canada it seems to be Camera Canada and Henry’s....

I've been placing all my orders with Adorama or B&H. Since they are now collecting sales tax, somebody local might end up being just as good for me if the retail price is the same. However, I can see how it can be expensive to handle sales through brick and mortar stores as compared with huge online retailers. Even eBay is now collecting sales tax. I sold my RF 50mm f/1.2L a couple of weeks ago and the buyer had to pay sales tax on my used item.

 

[old-pr-pix]

It is hard to measure how significant this really is. Dropping 86 authorized dealers is stated to be 20% - that implies there were only ~430 dealers on the list. However, companies like Best Buy, Costco, Sam's Club only count as one dealer even though each has hundreds of stores -- combined just these three may well equal thousands of outlets. Sure you aren't likely to pick up a 1DXIII from them, but at least some Best Buys have a fairly extensive display of Canon gear and a few knowledgeable staff (certainly not all though).

 

[YuengLinger]

It is hard to measure how significant this really is. Dropping 86 authorized dealers is stated to be 20% - that implies there were only ~430 dealers on the list. However, companies like Best Buy, Costco, Sam's Club only count as one dealer even though each has hundreds of stores -- combined just these three may well equal thousands of outlets. Sure you aren't likely to pick up a 1DXIII from them, but at least some Best Buys have a fairly extensive display of Canon gear and a few knowledgeable staff (certainly not all though).

Sorry, I've never met a staffer at BB that knows anything. Maybe things have changed? I gave up going there several years ago.

 

[SteveC]

Sorry, I've never met a staffer at BB that knows anything. Maybe things have changed? I gave up going there several years ago.

Worse, they will tell you an outright lie rather than admit they don't know.

I ran into one that DID know something once, and he complained he couldn't get other departments to just refer people to him when they had a question in their area of expertise.