One thing I am curious about is why the Number 1 and top selling Canon Camera and Lenses have all been on constant sales over the past 2 years.
If the demand was truly there, would the rules of supply and demand dictate sales are necessary to sell your product?
Yup, 2 Years after its launch and with massive price drops (cough cough Canon Frenzy Sales) and the A7iv was in the number 10th spot....
I mean, even if there's significant demand, that doesn't necessarily mean it outstripped Canon's anticipated demand pattern over time - the sales could be just trying to get closer to moving the "right" number of units based on their anticipated timeline.
I would assume that behind the scenes Canon has sufficient history and knowledge to know how many of what bodies they should be moving and approximately when, though obviously all of that is going to be impacted by marked conditions which are less predictable. For instance, if in year 3 of a 4 year release cycle Canon's a bit longer on inventory for a body than they expected to be due to one reason or another (i.e. inflationary pressures impacting discretionary spending in some markets), it may be in their interest to start offering some sales to get back on track because in year 4 of the 4 year cycle sales may traditionally be less by volume than what they can get in years 1-3. In that hypothetical instance, Canon could be a lot longer on product than they want to be if they don't incentivize some sales sooner, or may need to discount more than they want to in year 4 to get back on track.
Again, Canon's strategy is a bit of a black box and all of this is based on no external data, but I would have to assume Canon has a bit of an idea of what to expect when they release a body, and can likely tell if they're going to be short or long on product long before anyone else. Sales are just a much quicker way to get back on track or react to changes in the market.
